Gravity
by Cyberdrew
Summary: Dipper and Mabel are in trouble! Two doppelgangers of themselves have appeared from nowhere, and have sent them tumbling through other worlds! Can they get back in time before the look-alikes do some serious damage to their home and family?
1. Chapter 1

**_Welcome fellow Fallers! This fic will contain spoilers for everything related to Gravity Falls up to "_** Dipper and Mabel vs the Future ** _." And maybe even past that. That aside, enjoy!_**

Dipper was busy with dusting some of the shelves at the back of the store. It was an abnormally dull day for Gravity Falls: Wendy was doing some light reading at the register, Soos was in the middle of changing a light bulb, Stan was going through some paperwork, and Ford was down in his lab, where Dipper was banned from at the moment. The only one missing was...

"Hey guys," Dipper asked aloud, "Have you seen Mabel running around? I just realized I hadn't seen her all day. She was gone before I got up."

"Beats me dude," Wendy shrugged. "I thought she was with her two b-f-f's."

"I saw her in town on my way here," Soos answered, "She was talking with someone. I thought it was you."

"What? Soos, I haven't left the Shack all day. Who was she with?"

He stepped off the ladder. "I don't know, dude. Want me to drive you into town so we can check it out?"

Dipper thought for a minute. What if it was just one of those things where Mabel found a new boyfriend? She found one in the thirty minutes it took him to find the journal at the beginning of the summer. Surely, it couldn't be anything serious right?

"You go ahead dude," Wendy said, "I'll cover for you."

"Thanks," he waved her off, "It's probably nothing anyway. We shouldn't be more than a few minutes."

Wendy gave Dipper a thumbs up on his way out the door. They drove into town, checking the stores and windows for the crazed twelve year old. It wasn't long before they spotted her.

"There she is," Dipper sighed with relief. With Bill on the loose, and all of Ford's talk of dimensional rifts in reality and what-not, Dipper had feared the worst had happened. Now he was never going to hear the end of it from Mabel about what a paranoid little freak he was.

"Why is she going in there?" Soos wondered aloud.

Dipper looked at the building and saw what he meant. It used to be Gideon's warehouse of merchandise, but since he got the book thrown at him, it been abandoned. Dipper wasn't really sure if any of that old stuff was still in there.

"I'm gonna head in," Dipper told Soos, "Give me, like, ten minutes."

"Got it, dude," he said, "If you need me, I'll be right here, playing the newest album of Bass Blasters, the loudest techno rock band of the 80's."

Dipper shook his head and shut the car door behind him. Soos will be Soos. He entered the warehouse as cautiously as he could. Mabel was nowhere in sight, and he could hear someone talking somewhere in the maze of boxes strewn about the warehouse. A shiver went up his spine, just grab Mabel and get out of here.

"Mabel?" He called out, "Mabel...? Come on, time to go home!"

He walked down the aisle for a few minutes before she appeared before him.

"Ah Dipper," the girl said before him, "Such a loving brother, such bold mind, but you can be such a simple fool sometimes."

Her voice sounded familiar, but the tone was way, way off. She looked like Mabel, but she seemed completely different. Her signature sweater, skirt, and overall happy aura was gone. Instead, Mabel had a light blue blouse with a black skirt, she wore high heels- which seemed weird enough for Dipper- and even wore a tiny cape over her shoulders.

"Mabel?" Dipper looked her up and down, "What on earth are you wearing? And what's with the accent? Summerween was last month."

She glared at him.

"I mean, not that it doesn't look good, or anything," he tried to recover, "it's uh... very fancy. Very nice. It just looks like..." The thought came to him as he spoke, "...Gideon's stage outfit."

"Ugh. That little twerp," she rolled her eyes, "That...adorable little twerp. I'm insulted, yet intrigued. Did you hear that, Brother?" She called over her shoulder, "Our outfits belong to one Gideon Gleeful here!"

Dipper wanted to wake up now, now more than ever. Because another Dipper stepped out from behind some other boxes. He held a black book under his arm, marked with an upside down Triangle on the cover, labeled with the number 2. He wore a shirt, pants, and dress shoes that matched the Mabel from earlier. His hair did little to cover the birthmark on his forehead. How could two people have the same, exact birthmark, in the exact same position on their person? It's not just improbable.

It's impossible.

But none of that mattered. He lead the Mabel Dipper knew in front of him. She had her pink sweater on, and her usual aura of bubbly kindness was replaced by fear and tears down her cheeks. She was unable to move or speak, due to the glowing pink ropes that tied her arms to her chest, and wrapped up around her mouth.

The other Dipper held one end of the rope. Dipper balled his fist and took a step forward.

The imposter pulled on the rope. "These ropes are the Katariam Restraints'. I can tighten these ropes upon command and snap your sister like a twig. Take another step and I will show you."

Dipper forced himself to stop. Mabel looked so scared, so terrified; he wanted to sock the two kidnappers in their respective jaws. He took a breath and put his hands above his head.

"Alright," he said, "You got me, what do you two freaks want?"

"Your lives, for one thing," the Evil Mabel answered snidely.

"Now, now, Mabel," the Evil Dipper calmly chided. His voice and his eyes were emotionless, no pleasure or regret for his actions. "We cannot kill them. We are still unfamiliar with the rules of dimensional travel. We could suffer trans-dimensional backlash for-"

"Yes, yes, yes," Evil Mabel waved her hand at him, "Your nerdiness is quite adorable, and useful, but I can hardly stand it."

She turned her attention back to Dipper. "Now come here Not-Brother-Dear. We have a surprise for you and your sister."

They led them slowly to a more opened area of the warehouse. They lined them up in front of a wall.

"Sister Dear," Evil Dipper asked, handing her the book, "Would you like to do the honors?"

"It would be my pleasure," she answered, taking it graciously and flipping it to a page. "Latrop eht Nepo. Latrop eht Nepo. Latrop eht Nepo!"

A swirling vortex opened before Dipper and Mabel. They couldn't react fast enough. The floor disappeared from under their feet. The only thing Dipper could do was hold on to his sister as they tumbled into the unknown.

"Have a nice trip!" The Evil Mabel waved, "See you next Fall!"


	2. Chapter 2

**_Gravity Rises_**

Dipper and Mabel hit the ground with a thud, dazed and disoriented. It was a miracle Dipper was able to keep his breakfast down at all.

After a minute or two, enough of the vertigo passed for Dipper to speak.

"You okay?" He wheezed. The ropes had disappeared from Mabel's body, leaving her free.

"Yeah," she answered, "I'm just... I'm gonna throw up."

She jumped up with a surprising amount of energy, and tripped over to a nearby barrel. Her legs gave out and she hung over the rim of the barrel, spewing into it.

After she finished, she collapsed back to the ground, breathless. Dipper managed to balance himself on his hands and knees, getting used to the movement. He slowly sat up, resting on one knee. He was starting to feel a little better. He noticed where they were.

They were in the back lot of that haunted convenience store; the one he and Mabel went to hang out with Wendy and her friends.

Dipper shivered as the last of his sickness seemed to pass. He went over to Mabel to check her over.

"Better?"

"Better," she answered, "I feel like... I chugged a bucket of... smile dip and industrial sprinkles. Ugh…."

Dipper sighed. "C'mon," he moved to help her up, "We're closer to home, at least. Let's head back to the Mystery Shack and grab the Grunkles."

"Heh-heh," Mabel giggled pathetically, "Grab the Grunkles. Hey, is it colder here? I mean, more than usual?"

She was right. The sky was dark and cloudy, and it was just starting to snow. The wind tore through Dipper's shirt, biting into his skin. If they didn't get some warmer clothing, they were going to get sick. Well, sicker than the vertigo was making them.

"Snow?" Dipper wondered aloud. Draping his sister's arm over his shoulders. Did they go forward in time? Are they too late to stop…whoever those two weirdo-lookalikes were?

They walked silently through the town. Everyone was inside, safe from the cold, and didn't pay much attention to the two kids supporting each other while walking on the sidewalk. Eventually, the Mystery Shack came into view. Except, something was…off.

"Hey," Mabel wondered, "What happened to the Mystery Shack? Where's all the…mystery?"

The building was just a wooden cabin in the middle of the forest. There was only one car in the driveway, and no signs or attractions of any kind that would belong to a tourist trap.

Dipper shivered as the wind blew again.

"Let's just get inside and warm up," he suggested. "We can figure this out later."

They stepped inside, and were met with a shrill shriek. Dipper and Mabel jumped in surprise, but were too tired to scream back. A boy dipper's age was already in the house. He was wearing a blue and yellow t-shirt with a fire lit star on the front, with a yellow long sleeve shirt under it, and had a blue Band-Aid on his chin. Dipper recognized the markings hiding under his hair.

"Who-? What the-? How are you-?" he stammered.

"Not big on completing sentences, are you?" Dipper quipped.

"I- You're just- Shut up!" he snapped back. Before anybody could do anything else, he pulled out a baseball bat from behind the shelf he was next to. "Burglars! Mabel! Ford! Come quick!"

Dipper pulled out the Journal; he had been reading it closely every night. There were one or two things he could use in here that would help them escape. Mabel stood apart from him, wielding her trusty grappling hook. Ever since Gideon's robot attack, she's been carrying that thing around with her everywhere she went, ready to save the day again.

Meanwhile, the other Dipper held up his bat, and was soon joined by one Grunkle Ford and Mabel. Ford had arrived on the scene empty handed, six fingers and all. He had on suspenders, a flannel shirt, and a white lab coat. The second Mabel held a book opened and ready like Dipper. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a pine tree on it, and an orange jacket that seemed just a size too big. The book was red, with a six fingered hand on the cover, marked further with the number 6.

They stood off against each other, ready to strike. Meanwhile, the pieces in Dipper's brain started to fall in place. The town, the shack, the rift in Ford's lab back home, and now this. Two of the same sets of twins in the same room? This just confirmed it.

"Hold on," Dipper said, closing his book and holding it up. "We're not burglars. We need your help."

Mabel followed his lead, putting her hands over her head in surrender.

"What in the name of-" Ford wondered, "You two look like…"

"Your great niece and nephew," Dipper offered, "We are, technically."

Dipper explained what had happened to them this past morning, how another two doppelgangers had trapped the two of them and threw them into a portal.

"Okay," the other Mabel interrupted, "I'm the paranormal enthusiast-"

"Paranormal nut, you mean."

"-but this is stupid!" she claimed in outrage, "I mean, another dimension? Parallel worlds? That's impossible!"

"No," Ford said, "just highly improbable."

He kneeled down in front of them, examining them closely.

"Another world…" he wondered aloud, "And one with a reversed set of twins. This is fascinating. I have so many questions."

"Mabel!" the other Dipper pointed, "Look! I'm the smart one this time! And you're not a total dork on their world! Hey, a hat doesn't look too bad on me."

"This is weird," the secondary Mabel crossed her arms. "Weird and wrong. And what's with the journal?" Dipper noted how she hid hers away in her jacket before Ford could notice she had it. He guessed that they found it only recently.

"I assume there is another author where they are from," Ford answered. "Now, I also assume you two need help getting home?"

The twins nodded.

"Well, that will be that," he said standing back up. "I'll have something whipped up in the lab momentarily. In the meantime; Dipper, Mabel?"

"Yes?" the four of them answered in unison, causing Ford to flinch. One set of Dipper and Mabel started snickering at the situation. The remaining two just sighed and shook their heads.

"…Watch after them," Ford instructed his kids. "And make sure they don't make any paradox inducing rifts, or… anything else equally destructive."

He disappeared into the basement, and left the two sets of twins alone.

"So…" Dipper scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah… This is weird," the other Mabel said again and crossed her arms again.

The more colorful set of twins grinned wildly, excitedly chittering away at each other, comparing adventures. By listening in, Dipper was able to learn that his counterpart was into boxing, and often introduced himself _via_ his birthmark- instead of hiding it- playing a game of "Guess what my name is." Although left unsaid, Dipper was also able to deduce the other Mabel's shyness, and her low tolerance for other people. Mabel on this world was quite the introvert.

"You brought a video game character to life too?" Dipper asked the counter-Mabel.

She sighed and pulled him away from the other two while they were deep in conversation. She spoke softly, "It was a mistake. I was trying to get back at Wendy."

Dipper raised his eyebrows. "Wendy?" he whispered back, "She's one of the coolest people I know, what did she do?"

She shook her head, "Dip- _My_ Dipper had a crush on her. When he finally confessed it to her, she back handed him in the worst possible way. Calling him a creep. She spread all kinds of rumors about him after that."

She looked so angry, Dipper wondered if she would clock Wendy if she were present at the moment.

"She apologized later," she continued, "but I hate her for what she did to my brother." She glanced back at the duo behind her. "He gets on my nerves, trying to protect me, but I have to protect _him_ too."

Dipper nodded. It was kind of an unspoken rule between him and Mabel. She was the stronger of the two, and he was the smart guy, not that she'd admit that. He knew that they'd always have each other's back.

Suddenly, a tremor shook the house. Laughter pierced Dipper's ears as the four of them struggled to keep their balance.

"Dear, oh dear, oh Dipper dearest!" a singsong voice announced outside. "We're very, very late! For our very special daaaaaaaaaate!"

Dipper made eye contact with his doppelganger, and saw what could only be described as dread.

"You'd think she'd take the hint by now," he said miserably.

"She?" Mabel wondered, "She-who?"

"Pacifica Northwest," the counter-Mabel answered. She got up next to a window to check out the supposed attacker. "The 'Psychic-Lass' of Gravity Falls. Dipper, I thought you burned that book!"

The original set of twins looked back and forth as the second set of twins looked at each other. The other Mabel looked at the other Dipper in disbelief, and he didn't make eye contact.

Finally, he cleared his throat, "I might have…accidentally have been lying…"

"How hard is it to open a book, look at its contents, and throw it into a campfire?!" Counter-Mabel raged.

"Pretty hard when there's a six-eyed wolf with glow-in-the-dark fangs trying to eat your sister!" Counter-Dipper retaliated.

While the other twins fought, Dipper and Mabel decided to look out the window at the attacker. Pacifica did indeed have a book, labeled as the number four, and her outfit…actually looked pretty neat. Her dress looked like it was pulled out of the 1920's, colored purple and black, with a crescent moon turned sideways on the front of the skirt. Next to her was a twenty foot tall snow golem balancing a giant snowball over his head.

"C'mon, Dipper!" Pacifica complained, "Leave that crummy sister of yours for ten seconds and join me for dinner! Or else my new friend here will crush your family in ice and snow!"

"I will smash you with my flesh!" the golem bellowed.

"Gross," Dipper ducked back down. "I have an idea if anyone's willing to listen…"

((((()))))

"Dipper….!" Pacifica called out again. "You really _cannot_ keep a lady waiting!"

Dipper stepped out the front door with his doppelganger. This might just confuse her long enough for the girls to get that spell right.

"What?!" she looked between the two of them. "There are…two of you?"

She looked confused for a brief moment, but then she got a really silly grin on her face. Dipper could swear that there were hearts in her eyes.

"Oh, this is _marvelous!_ " she sang excitedly, "Utter _madness_! Two Dippers for the price of one? Oh, happy day!"

Dipper watched as his doppelganger's shoulders slouched. He turned to him and held up his hand.

"Hold up," the counter-Dipper said, "I just…I need to do this."

He turned to the mad girl and approached her with opened arms.

"Paz," he said, "There's something I need to tell you…"

"Oh, you're confessing!" she hugged her book delightfully, "Oh isn't this grand?!"

Dipper followed his lookalike. If he needed to intervene, he would.

Dipper followed Dipper and stopped only a couple of feet away. The golem silently loomed over them, ready to smash them upon command. Dipper decided to stay out of this conversation and focus on possible escape routes.

"Look, Paz," the other Dipper began, "I just wanted to start with; I'm sorry."

"Ah-excuse me?" Pacifica looked confused.

"After our…dates…I never actually told you how I felt about them. I was uncomfortable, and I was scared of confronting you and telling the truth myself, so… I'm sorry. That wasn't fair of me, having someone else try to break this off instead of doing it myself."

"Is it that other girl, then? What's-her-name, Wendy?"

Dipper sighed, "At the time…yeah, it was. But that doesn't excuse what I did. Could you…" He looked up at the golem above him, but refocused on "Paz." "Could you forgive me?"

Pacifica looked at him, perplexed, seemingly forgetting that there were two Dippers standing in front of her. It was quiet for a long while.

"I…" she finally responded, "I guess I did go a little overboard with…the birds, and the restaurant, and… all that other stuff. I was just trying… to impress you; so you'd see me as something more than just… the town freak show."

"I would never think that," Dipper responded. "But I'd be willing to start over, as friends."

He held out his hand to shake. Pacifica seemed to cringe at the sugestion, but she sighed.

"Well," she said, smiling sheepishly, "A friend is…better than no friend at all." She took his hand with hers. "Hi, my name is Pacifica Northwest. My friends call me Paz (at least they would if I had any friends), and I like to read in my spare time."

"Dipper Pines," he gladly shook her hand, and flipped his bangs up with his free hand to show off his birthmark, "but you probably already knew that."

Pacifica giggled at the statement, and the golem made himself known again.

"So, uh, can I throw this, or what?"

"Oh," Pacifica turned to the snow monster, "I'm sorry Tyrone. It appears that your services are no longer needed."

With a wave of her hand, the giant fell backwards and collapsed into a harmless pile of snow. After exchanging phone numbers and agreeing that this world's Dipper and Mabel would meet up with her at a later date (since things are a little crazy in the house right now), they parted ways peacefully. Pacifica gave a flirty wave to both Dipper's (one of them wasn't sure how to feel about that).

Unfortunately, the two Mabel's were unaware of the situation. The burst out through the front door, journal and grappling hook in their respective hands.

"Yaaaaah!" they cried out in unison before looking around in confusion.

"Hey sis," the brighter Dipper greeted casually, "Hey other sis. What's shaken?"

"Where did-? How did-?" the other Mabel started to fume. "I was ready to go to war for you!"

"Aw, that's sweet of you, sis, but I had it handled," the counter-Dipper shrugged. Dipper was beginning to envy the levels of irritation his copy threw at his sister.

Before anything else could continue, and before the counter-Mabel could detonate in her anger, Ford burst from his lab downstairs.

"Excelsior!" He said in victory, "I did it! I made a-"

He observed the tweens standing in the doorway.

"What are you all doing, just standing in the doorway? You all want to die of frostbite? Close the door and join me down in the lab."

With that, he turned in a huff, leaving the four of them to look at each other and sigh. Poor, clueless Grunkle Ford.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Monster Falls_**

The five stood in a cleared out area of the lab, two of them were ready to step off into another world. They stood around a little bobsled built for two, complete with a faded red paintjob with white stripes, and a set of snow skis lifting off the floor. Inside was a mess of buttons and screens and dials that Dipper could only guess at.

"Well," Ford scratched his head, "This was the prototype I had locked away before building the first generator. Luckily, it only needed some minor adjustments to be ready to set sail."

A spring burst through one of the seat cushions, slightly starling the two ready travelers.

"...It's supposed to do that," Ford stated. Then he added, "Let me check a few things over..."

While he did the final checkups, the twins turned to their doppelgangers.

"Well," Dipper started, "It's been weird. But... y'know, fun."

"Yeah," the other Dipper agreed, "Right back at you."

He held up his fist and Dipper tapped it. The other Dipper grinned.

"Dimensional Bro-Fist," he laughed.

"Heh. Yeah," Dipper agreed finding the thought amusing, "Dimension Bro's."

Mabel assaulted her lookalike with a bear hug, surprising her, but she reluctantly hugged back.

They climbed into the bobsled, Dipper in front, Mabel in the back.

"Alright," Ford explains, "This is how it works." He pointed to a slide pin off to Dipper's right, it looked like it was pulled off of a pinball machine. "Pull that to activate the transporter. You have to pull it back and let it go -only- when the vehicle is moving. Otherwise, it won't work, and you might just break the rift initiator. Understand?"

Dipper nodded. "Thanks again," he said, "For everything."

Ford nodded proudly, but then pride turned to remorse.

"Dipper," he said, "I know this may sound strange, but..."

He looked over his shoulder to his grand niece and nephew, who were curiously watching the trio from afar.

"I don't want to scare you," he said, "but..."

"Your brother is fine," Mabel interrupted him with a smile. "You just have to turn on that machine again."

Ford blinked at her, stunned by the statement in question. He wiped his eyes and nose with his at sleeve and looked solemnly back at Dipper.

"Right," he said, "Let's get you two moving."

He got back behind them, ready to push the sled. "On three..."

"One..."

Dipper pulled back the slide.

"Two..."

Dipper held his breath. He could hear Mabel gripping tightly on the rails next to her.

"Three!"

Ford gave them a big push, and they would have crashed into the shelf of smoking beakers if Dipper hadn't let the slide go, and they disappeared from sight, leaving a parallel trail of fire in their tracks.

"Now," Ford clapped his hands together, "Mabel, would you kindly grab my wallet and order some pizza? I have a lot of work to do."

((((()))))

Dipper might have screamed when they crossed dimensions, but it was lost to a booming thunder that crashed in his ears. Something flashed in front of his eyes, and it was replaced by the scenery the machine had taken them to. They landed, hard, into the sand and the twins were flung forward and sent tumbling away from the crash.

"Ugh," Mabel complained, "I wish I could barf, but my stomach's empty. Now Its just kind of...lurching."

Dipper managed to pull himself out of the sand, a little easier than last time. Though he was just as sick, it wasn't because of the ride alone.

"Mabel," he said, "Did you see something in that flash?"

"I don't see anything right now," Mabel groaned, "I want to go to sleep now..."

"Mabel!" Dipper grabbed her attention, "Those other twins! The evil ones! They were getting into the car with Soos! We have to get back home, now!"

"Okay, but..." Mabel sat up and looked around, rubbing her eyes. "We're at the lake. It'll take us a while to walk back to the home."

Dipper took out his flip phone. Well, this is an emergency.

He gave a call to Wendy, who was still back at the shack, and agreed to hastily give them a ride. Dipper had never thought to ask if she passed her driver's test, but she didn't protest; so that must mean she's alright with it.

She got to the lake a few minutes later in a pickup.

"How'd you two get all the way out here?" she greeted, "Didn't you _just_ leave the Shack?"

"It's a long story," Dipper answered, "We'll explain on the way."

They loaded the bobsled into the back- couldn't let that fall into the wrong hands- and climbed into the front seat with Wendy.

He rambled on about how they met their other selves, who sent them to another universe where they met _another_ version of themselves, and how they had to help…pacify Pacifica.

"Heh-heh," Mabel giggled, "Pacified Pacifica."

She moved in her seat like she does when she has a thought to play with. Dipper ignored her and told Wendy how Ford helped them back.

"Ford?" Wendy seemed confused, "Who's Ford?"

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other.

"Grunkle Ford?" Mabel tried to remind her. "Old scientist guy? Six fingers? The guy Dipper _fangirl's_ over?"

"I do not _fangirl_ over him," Dipper crossed his arms.

Mabel just looked at him in silence for a short moment. Then she mimicked Dipper on the day Ford came back. "Aaaaaaaah! The journals! I can't believe I finally get all the nerdy equations I could want!"

Dipper slouched lower in his seat. "My voice didn't squeak and crack like that."

They passed by a sign that marked the border to Gravity Falls.

Wendy breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally, I can take off this charm. I've been itching this entire time."

"Take off your wha-" Dipper didn't finish, for what happened next shocked him into momentary silence.

Wendy had pulled something dangling off her wrist, and she _changed_. Red fur grew on her arms and face, with claws extending over her fingernails. Her nose and mouth elongated into a snout, her fangs grew, her ears stretched out several inches, and her eyes retained their playful manner, but turned yellow.

Dipper and Mabel screamed. The truck swerved, but stayed on the road.

"What?!" Wendy demanded, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Dipper stammered, "I'm- You just- You're a…."

"A werewolf?" Wendy didn't seem aware that this was a problem, "Sheesh kid, relax. You weren't this afraid when we first met! I did tell you I only eat tofu meat, right?"

"Dipper?" Mabel sounded very small behind him, "What is going on?"

Dipper tried to calm down. His heart beat against his chest like a drum, but he started to relax; understanding that the danger was not here, with them. At least not yet.

"We're not home yet," Dipper realized, "We skipped our way into another dimension. Apparently with werewolves!"

Wendy stomped on the brake pedal, and the truck came to a skidding halt. Wendy pulled the lever into park, and then looked at them critically for a good minute. She sniffed her nose, and Dipper felt the need to back up further away a little more.

"You guys…certainly _smell_ like Dipper and Mabel," she observed, "But...something's missing…"

"Wendy," Dipper swallowed his fear, "We're friends, right?"

She nodded, still staring at him.

"We need to go to the Mystery Shack," he said carefully. "We need to see Grunkle Stan."

Wendy watched them for a minute or two in silence. Then she threw the gear back into drive, and resumed their path back to the Mystery Shack.

"Please don't let me be crazy," Wendy muttered under her breath.

They rode in silence for the rest of the trip. Mabel gripped Dipper's hand, and had subtly removed her seatbelt. If she felt the need to, Dipper knew, she hold dive out the passenger side door to save them.

They arrived at the Shack, Wendy the werewolf seemed hastier to get out than Mabel was. They all moved to the back of the truck. They paused when each party saw that the other was trying to get the bobsled. Wendy slowly picked the machine up and gently set it down on the ground like it might go off in her hands (er, claws?) at any second.

"I guess that whole _other world_ thing wasn't just a game you and Mabel were playing, huh?"

"No," Dipper assured her, "It wasn't."

He and Mabel moved the bobsled closer to the Shack.

"Wendy," Dipper said as calmly as he could, "Would you mind grabbing Stan and bring him out here? We could really use his help."

She nodded and walked to the door, her tail swishing uncertainly behind her. She kept her eyes on them for as long as possible before going inside.

"Okay Mabel, get in," he told her. "We're leaving."

"What?" she whispered back, "Why? I thought we needed Stan's help."

"No," Dipper corrected, "We need _Ford's_ help, and Wendy made it clear that he's not back yet. No one here can really help us."

"But…but…" She fiddled with her fingers, "I wanted to see what's going on with Wendy! I mean, don't you? What if _we're_ werewolves, or something? Oh! Better yet, what if we're something different? Like mermaids? Or fairies? Heh-heh, I bet you're a gnome!"

"Mabel!" Dipper snapped at her, "This is serious! Those Evil versions of us are going to waltz into the Mystery Shack unopposed! Wendy, Soos, Stan and Ford- Who knows who else they'll hurt! We have to get back home. Now get in the sled!"

Mabel jumped at the sudden harshness in his voice, but she reluctantly got in.

"Remember to-"

"I know what to do," she interjected.

Dipper pushed the bobsled, and then jumped in. Mabel pulled the pinball slide back and let it go; leaving this this world behind them, and moving onto the next.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Bodyswap_**

The sled slammed into the ground, thrashing its passengers around, but not throwing them overboard. After they settled, Dipper steadily rose.

"What was that?" he said aloud. "Something came loose."

"I don't know," Mabel snapped back, climbing out of the sled.

Dipper moved past her, ignoring her mood and checking the systems. He discovered what had made the noise. A panel had opened, spilling some of the loose wires into the floorboard. The wires were too heavy by themselves; they would keep coming unplugged if the wires were left to bounce around like that. They couldn't make another jump with this as it is. He needed to get that panel back into place, but he needed a screwdriver.

"Okay," Dipper decided, "Easy fix." He looked over to Mabel, who was watching him begrudgingly with her arms crossed. "Just need to grab a screwdriver."

He looked around the area where they landed. "Hey," he noticed, "This is where the gnomes kidnapped you, remember? The Shack's not too far from here."

"Yippee," Mabel waved her finger in the air for false excitement.

"Come on. We shouldn't be more than a few minutes."

He started to walk away, but then Mabel said "No."

Dipper turned around, "What's that?"

"I said no," she repeated, "I'm done being pushed around, you go get that stupid screwdriver yourself."

"Mabel, what's going on?"

"We seriously couldn't take another five minutes in that last dimension? I just wanted to see a few things! When was the last time we did something I wanted?"

"Seriously?" Dipper started fuming, "How about the time I helped you and Mermando? Or when I gave up a summer with Wendy so you could have Waddles? Or, better yet, how about that time you promised to help me figure out the password for that stupid laptop, only to turn around and make a sock-puppet show for you and puppet loving Gabe!?"

Mabel turned her back, sat down and pulled the hem of her sweater down past her knees. Then she pulled the neck of her sweater over her head: Sweater Town was in full lockdown.

"Fine," Dipper said bitterly, "Hide out here, in Sweater Town, meanwhile, I'm going to be busy with SAVING OUR FAMILY!"

He stormed off towards this world's Mystery Shack, angrily muttering under his breath about his sister. The small cabin came into view, and he took a breath to calm down.

Alright; just focus, get the screwdriver without anybody noticing you were even there. They'd probably be looking for it forever. Dipper wondered if this is how he lost some of his toys over the years, someone else from another dimension stopping by and-

"Stop it," He told himself, "Focus."

He watched as someone exited, he was off to the side of the shack, so he couldn't see them directly, but he _heard_ who it was.

"I have to go get some groceries, Sweetie," Grunkle Stan promised with sincerity, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

If there was answer, Dipper couldn't hear it. He waited patiently to see what would happen next.

"...Okay," Stan then said, "I'll bring you girls back some food. You be sure to call me if anything happens, okay?"

After another moment with no answer, Stan closed the door, locking it loudly. He soon got into his car and left, leaving the Shack alone.

Dipper walked up to the door. He remembered that, for a short while, the locks on the front door for the Mystery Shack were busted, and it took a couple of days for the guy Stan hired to replace it. Until then, he always made a show of locking the front door, like it would dissuade any lurking thieves. Dipper turned the knob and it the wooden door swung open with an ominous creak.

"Doth protest-eth too much, Stanford," Dipper parodied. Then he corrected himself, "Er, Stanley." He really needed to stop talking to himself.

He stepped inside and tiptoed through the dark gift shop. It had some different looking attractions from the Mystery Shack he was familiar with. They looked even faker than the ones he knew, like someone only put half the effort they should have into making them. Dipper snuck through it all, all the way to the new break room Soos and Wendy used. He spotted the tool box sitting there, right by the door as soon as he opened it.

"Okay, screwdriver... screwdriver..." He whispered to himself as he searched. No matter how quietly he tried to move, the tool box, and its contents rattled to cause as much attention as possible. Finally, Dipper found what he needed. "Gotcha." He strode confidently, but silently back to the front door, only to be stopped short.

"Dipper?"

He spun around, his heart skipping a beat. He'd been caught, red-handed. Mabel had appeared in the doorway. Her sweater was missing, leaving her in shorts and a tank top. In the loop of her pants was a familiar looking hat, and in her hand was a familiar looking gun with a light bulb instead of a muzzle.

The sight of Mabel like this rose too many questions for Dipper, and he spent a second too long staring instead of running. Mabel raised the Memory Eraser up at him with fresh rage and torment crossing her face.

"Bipper," she sounded angrier than any other time in Dipper's life. Anger didn't seem to cut it. He had never known her to strike out at other people, but this was a different world, with a different Mabel.

"Wait, wait!" Dipper held his hands up, and dropped the screwdriver in the process. "Mabel, its me!"

"You're not Dipper!" She protested. "Dipper's been missing for _weeks_ now, so who are you!?"

Dipper had always been a terrible liar, so maybe he could reason with her. "Why'd you call me Bipper?" He asked, "What does Bipper supposed to-"

"It's Bill!" She yelled stepping closer. "You're Bill! He took over your body, and then I thought we got it back, but..." Her eyes brimmed with tears. "Give. Him. Back!"

"Mabel!" Dipper begged, "Look at my eyes! You can see them, can't you?"

"I don't-" she paused and took another two steps closer. Dipper didn't dare blink as she squinted at his eyes.

"You're...not Bill?"

"Mabel?" Dipper heard a new voice, "What's all the-?"

Dipper watched as Pacifica entered the room, and saw the two of them standing there. She rushed over to them, pulling Mabel back by her shoulders. Dipper saw the fear in her eyes. The way these two looked at him; it broke his heart.

"Mabel," Dipper tried to explain, "I'm not the Dipper you're familiar with. I'm…from another world, and I'm trying to-"

"You're not here to stay?" She interrupted.

Dipper blinked. If she heard him, she didn't seem to care.

" _Are you here_ ," she spelled out slowly, " _to stay_."

Dipper gulped, "No…I'm not."

Mabel shook her head, "Then it doesn't matter. Dipper's still missing."

She turned and walked away, dragging her feet out of the gift shop, and up the stairs.

Dipper was at a loss for words. He started with the most obvious question.

"What happened?" he asked Pacifica.

She looked at him skeptically. She looked down, at his arms.

"Dipper had cuts and bruises all over his arms," she noted, "You're really not…"

She made eye contact with him.

"Dipper made some kind of deal with Bill," Pacifica explained, "in Mabel's words; they beat him, and got your body back, but…" she shook her head, "You just…weren't there one day. You disappeared, and if you ever showed up, it was to cause trouble."

She coughed, then continued. "My family and I…had this house party, and at one point…you were fighting Bill, whoever that is. You…helped save us. I moved here with Mabel, to help her the way she helped me, and everyone else.

"She..." she hesitated, "She doesn't sleep anymore. She just...sits out on the front porch, staring out into the woods at night. She goes back to bed before daylight shows, so her Uncle doesn't even know about it... I just... sit with her..."

Dipper swallowed the sadness down. He needed to get out of here, before he did something stupid. He picked up the screwdriver and started to back up out the door.

"I can't stay here," he said, his heart catching in his throat, "My family back home is in danger, and I just…." He sighed, "Thank you, for looking after Mabel. It means so much that-"

She assaulted him with a hug.

"…I know that this isn't… totally right," she said, "but thank you, for saving us when you did."

She pulled back, and Dipper started to leave. "Pacifica," he warned, "Keep the journals away from Bill. He wants them destroyed, okay?"

She nodded, understanding.

Dipper then added, "Take care."

He left the Mystery Shack and sprinted all the way back to Mabel- _his_ Mabel- sitting by the bobsled. He burst through to the clearing, and saw her standing up- the lockdown of Sweater Town had lifted- looking to see what was wrong. Her eyes were red from crying.

Dipper stopped in front of her to catch his breath.

"Dipper?" she said, confused, "What's wrong? You're-"

Dipper didn't notice his cheeks were wet with his own tears. He sniffed hard and wiped his face with his arm.

"I'm not crying!" he said a little too quickly, "You're crying!"

Mabel's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She turned to clean herself up the best she could.

Dipper moved to the sled to fix it, but paused.

"Mabel," he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, for everything. Siblings…don't watch the score, they watch each other's backs."

"Sheesh," she said, "You're using Dad's lines?"

"Yeah, well," Dipper shrugged, "I'll make it up to you when this is over."

"Uh…okay," Mabel was blissfully unaware of what Dipper was keeping from her.

 _It's for the best_ , Dipper told himself, _she doesn't need to know_.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Anti-Gravity_**

The bobsled slowed to a stop at their next destination. The twins slowly stepped off and stretched their arms and legs.

"Okay," Mabel started, "So, I have a couple of questions…"

Dipper rubbed his neck and waited patiently.

"I can understand that there's a dimension where time moves faster, and we're adults and stuff, but about that last one…"

"Well," Dipper tried to answer, "Logic dictates that the universe is constantly expanding, and anything that can happen, will happen eventually."

Mabel took a moment to process the information before asking further.

"But why was everyone we know a rabbit?"

"I don't know, Mabel," Dipper threw his arms up in exasperation.

"Okay," Dipper shook his head and continued, "Remember what we're here for: Great Uncle Ford is one of the only people that can fix the sled. We need a path straight back home. At the rate we're going, we won't get back home until we're as old as Stan and Ford."

Mabel nodded and looked around. They landed in the woods again, but this time a fair could be heard in the distance. Sounds of laughter and merriment mixed in with boos and complaining, as well as various metals creaking and groaning. The twins made eye contact; the only day in their whole summer that involved an every expense spared carnival was…

"This is the day I got Waddles!" Mabel excitedly remembered. How she talked Grunkle Stan into letting her keep Waddles was a mystery that stood bigger than any other in Gravity Falls to this day. Dipper remembered this day rather… differently. Wendy and Robbie, Blendin Blandin, the whole day set on repeat… not all that fun.

Then there was the fact that he broke Mabel's heart for his own gain. Fortunately, she never experienced that herself, but the memory was still ingrained in the back of Dipper's mind.

"This is too early in the timeline," Dipper speculated. "Ford hasn't come back yet."

"How do we know for sure?" Mabel asked him. "I mean, didn't you just say that anything that can happen, will happen?"

She was right, they needed to be sure at least.

"How do we get to the Mystery Shack without being seen?"

"Huh-doi!" Mabel threw her arms up in exasperation, "The whole town is at the fair right now! We'll just be two more random faces in the crowd!"

She had a point. Besides, it could be fun to enjoy an actual fair instead of stressing over how to impress a crush. Let his interdimensional doppelganger handle that mess.

They made their way through the forest and soon made it to the fair grounds. Mabel was giddy and bounced next to Dipper with newfound energy, their previous argument forgotten. At least for now.

They reached the fair and worked their way through the crowd, Dipper was holding Mabel's hand so they wouldn't get separated.

"Okay," Dipper said, "We just need to get to the Shack, check the lab, and then get back out. It's as easy as-"

Dipper bumped into someone.

He looked up at the girl, and saw red hair pulled into pony tails on the sides of her head. She was freakishly tall for her age, but it was like she had walked out of the picture his friend had shown him so long ago.

"Wendy!" Dipper sputtered out before thinking.

The girl, who must have been the same age as him, looked down at him with confusion.

"Yes…?" she answered, "Do I know you?"

Dipper noticed she had someone else's arm looped in hers, and he recognized him immediately. He hid under his hat.

"S-sorry," he said and hurried past them. They didn't stop till they reached the far end of the Shack, away from onlookers.

"Dipper, was that…?" Mabel sounded astonished, "She looks so…"

"That's Wendy when she was a kid," Dipper explained, "She was always really tall for her age."

"And that guy that was with her…" Mabel pieced together. "Dipper that was you!"

Dipper looked away and coughed. "It looks like… the ages of the teens have been switched with the ages of all the other kids in Gravity Falls."

"But why did it look like you and Wendy were on a date?"

Dipper sighed. "Because Wendy is trying to impress me like I was trying to impress the Wendy back home. Like I said, this is early in the summer. The other Dipper probably doesn't have any idea of what's going on."

"Well, that's a shame," a new voice said.

The twins jumped at Wendy seemingly appearing from nowhere. They watched as she leaned down and lifted Dipper's hat off his head, and then lifted his hair to expose his birthmark.

"I knew I wasn't crazy," she said, "You have Dipper's birthmark!"

"How'd you know to-" Dipper stopped when he saw the device in her belt loop. The time travel tape measure. No matter what Dipper has faced this past summer, no other device was as ridiculous or dangerous as this one.

"Women's intuition," Wendy answered Dipper's half-question. "Now the real question is: who are you?"

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. What's the harm in telling the truth?

Dipper explained to her their current situation, and how they were trying to get back home.

"Wow," Wendy said, "Parallel Worlds. That is perhaps the strangest thing to happen this past summer. And the coolest, so far."

"We're looking for someone named Ford," Dipper asked, "Is he here?"

Wendy scratched her head. "You mean… Stanford Pines? My boss?"

Dipper shook his head. She doesn't have any idea who he's talking about; Ford isn't back yet.

"Never mind," Dipper sighed.

"Wait," Mabel asked, "Aren't you the same age as us? How are you working at the Mystery Shack?"

Wendy shrugged, "Payed under the table."

"Heh, that certainly sounds like Grunkle Stan," Mabel said a little too proudly. Then she started giggling, "Dipper, you looked like Shaggy back there."

"What do you mean?"

"The scruff!" she brushed her chin to show him where, "You were working on some serious goat hair, bro!"

Dipper thought back to his older doppelganger, who actually wasn't wearing a hat, and only saw his eyes and birthmark. He didn't really look past that at any other features.

"Hey…" Mabel then said, trying to comfort him, "It's a good look… really. You look very handsome."

Dipper turned his attention to her, he must have looked worried. He smiled at her.

"I bet you still have braces at sixteen," he teased.

"Oh yeah?" She grinned at him. Then she ran off, but didn't go far. She looked around the corner of the house, and searched the crowd. Dipper searched with her.

Mabel then gasped. "There I am!" she squealed, "I just got Waddles!"

Dipper spotted her counterpart on the other side of the fair grounds. She definitely looked older, but aside from that, not much else has changed. Her sweater was light and red, with a shooting star on the front of it, and she was smiling wide enough to show that she no longer had braces. She danced with a piglet in her arms.

Mabel was astonished, "I. Look. HAWT!"

Dipper grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her back.

"Could you be a bit louder?" Dipper quipped at her.

"Sorry! Sorry," she giggled again. "I got excited. Not every day you get a glimpse at the future, ya' know?"

Dipper shook his head. "C'mon, let's head back. Maybe Ford will be in the next dimension."

"You say that so casually," Wendy wondered, reminding Dipper that she's still here. "What kind of summer have you guys had?"

"You wouldn't believe us if we-"

"Spoilers!" Mabel squawked.

Dipper chuckled and moved past her. "Let's head back."

They effortlessly moved through the crowd and headed back to the bobsled.

"Is that what you used to get here?" Wendy surprised them again. She had followed them through the forest.

"Yeah, still needs fixing," Mabel kicked the side of it.

Wendy cleared her throat. "You know… maybe you don't… _have_ to go back?"

Dipper looked Wendy in the eye. Was she really…?

"I mean," she explained, "I don't know how it'd work, exactly, but we're both the same age, and all, and uh…"

"Wendy," Dipper stopped her. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I have to save my family, I have to get back home."

"Right, right," Wendy looked away sheepishly.

Dipper coughed, "But, hey, just because something doesn't work out the way you want it to, doesn't mean it won't work at all…"

"Uh, what?" Wendy looked confused, "You lost me."

Dipper sighed. "Wendy, you're one of the coolest people I know, and you're one of my best friends. As long I as I live, that will always be true."

Wendy's lip quivered before she assaulted him with a bear hug. Wendy was always a whole lot stronger than Dipper gave her credit for. When she set him back down, Wendy brushed a tear from her eye. Then she hugged Mabel.

"Thanks for everything, Mabel," Wendy said, "And for all of the random dance parties you surprise me with whenever I'm down."

Now it was Mabel's turn to brush a tear. Wendy parted from them and waved them off.

"Hey, uh, I gotta go back," she said, "Start this day over, and all that. You two stay safe, okay? I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you guys."

They waved at her and watched her use the tape measure, she was gone in a flash of blue light, and the twins weren't far behind, setting off to the next world.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Lot of wheels turning in my brain. After the initial story is finished, I might just make some oneshots of the different universes for kicks and giggles. Let me know if you're interested. Anyways:_**

 ** _Relativity Falls_**

Quick Prologue:

The woman trudged down the sidewalk with her hood up and her eyes down. She hid away from all the people she passed, who often stared at her. Had word of her little "adventures" gotten wind here? Did they recognize her? Did that one guy from Austria go through on his word, and the FBI were actually looking for her?

She hurried her pace and entered the convenience store. She just needed some food. Or, at least some ingredient that would fit well with the dusty cans and jars around the house.

She picked something off the shelf; a loaf of bread.

Well, she could live with PBJ for a little while.

She placed the bread on the counter and started digging in her pocket.

Please, she begged whatever entity was watching her, let her have some change.

She pulled out a paper clip, a half a piece of gum, and a sugar packet from a diner in New Mexico.

"Well howdy there stranger," the woman greeted kindly, from behind the counter "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Mabel looked up at her in a panic. "Uh…"

"Hey, I know that guy," someone behind her had said, "He lives in that cabin alone in the middle of the woods."

"I saw some strange lights up there a few days ago…"

"I'd pay good money to see what kind of mysterious things going on up there."

Mabel looked back to the finances in her hand, maybe she could turn this around…

She dramatically threw her hood back. "I can give you a tour!" she offered proudly, "Ten- I mean, Fifteen dollars a person!"

People excitedly grabbed for their wallets, and a man walked up to Mabel's side.

"Sorry about that mistake, your coat hides you pretty well, what'd you say your name was?"

Mabel paused before answering. She didn't really have any other names to fall back on. And she really couldn't take her brother's name either…

It's not like Mabel Pines would be a name recognized on this side of the country anyways. There had to be a hundred and one Mabels living in tiny towns like this.

"My name's Mabel," she introduced herself, momentarily forgetting about that looming hole in her heart, "Mabel Pines."

((((()))))

"I'm not saying Mulan would _defeat_ the Kung Fu Panda, but..."

Dipper sighed, "Mulan has military training _and_ a dragon and cricket for backup."

"Yeah, but… Po's a Kung Fu master," Mabel argued.

"Who relies on the Furious Five more often than his own abilities," Dipper pointed out.

"Well, Mulan has a whole army helping her out!" Mabel desperately countered.

"She took out the entirety of the Mongolian hoard with one firework," Dipper smiled smugly, "Plus, she has Kung Fu training too. Have you forgotten the training montage?"

"I will never forget that training montage," Mabel promised with a sparkle in her eyes.

Their destination came into view and Dipper shushed his sister. The twins approached the Mystery Shack cautiously, Mabel quietly humming " _Be a Man_ " to herself.

"It's so quiet here," Mabel then observed.

"I wonder if there's anybody home," Dipper thought aloud. If Mabel was home, there's no way it would be this quiet, there'd be some sort of commotion or-

"Boys…!" an older, crankier voice called out, "Family meeting! Get your tushes in here now!"

"Tush?" Mabel suppressed her giggling.

Dipper shushed her as two boys ran into the house, one after the other. After they went inside, the twins looked at each other. Whoever those two kids were, they were not Dipper and Mabel, and that voice from inside the house certainly did not belong to Stan or Ford.

"Whose house is this, anyways?" Mabel wondered.

"I don't know," Dipper said, "We might have gone back in time again, but I'm not sure. Did anyone else live here before Ford?"

Mabel shrugged.

They crept up to the house, hiding out under a window that had been left open. They heard the conversation inside.

"-We need to protect the Mystery Shack at any cost," a voice said. "Can I count on you two to get these supplies?"

"Absolutely!" one of the kids answered enthusiastically.

"Eh, sure," the other one seemed to shrug, "I'll help with the nerd thing."

The twins looked at each other.

"Who are these people?" Mabel wondered.

"Don't know," Dipper answered, "But they sound…familiar, somehow."

"Come on dude!" one of the boys from inside continued, "High Six!"

The twin's eyes widened at each other in surprise. This…is impossible. The original Pines twins grew up in New Jersey, not Oregon. What the heck is going on here?

Meanwhile, one of the brothers inside gave a reluctant slap, in response to the high six offered.

"Alright," he said, "What do we need?"

"Here," the older man said, "Everything we need is on this list. And I'll let you borrow my old journal so you can find it all. You two be careful, okay?"

"Never!" the boys said in unison.

With that, they ran out of the shack and bolted to the woods. Dipper almost ran after them, standing up and taking a few steps away from the window. Mabel was standing with him, and put a hand on his shoulder to keep him back.

Dipper didn't know what to do. "If that was Stan and Ford," he thought aloud, "Then who's-"

"Well, this is highly improbable."

The twins spun around to find…well, the twins. The old man and lady looked like each other in some certain way that could only be explained as a family bond. The woman had a nice suit and skirt, and wore a fez on her head, labeled with a shooting star. The old man had a trench coat, and had greying hair that infected his sideburns and the roots of his goatee. His hair was brushed to the side, exposing that same, unmistakable birthmark that Dipper was (honestly) getting tired of seeing.

The old lady got down to their level, adjusting her glasses.

"Dip-stick?" she said in wonder, "How are you…"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" the older Dipper said. "How'd you two get here, kiddos? Did you make a deal with Bill, or did you have some other means of being transported?"

"We…uh…" Dipper looked between Mabel and their counterparts. "We…have a Bobsled…over in the woods, over there…"

"Ah, good," the older Dipper nodded, "Let's go get it, then. We'll fix it up and send you on your way."


	7. Chapter 7

**_Reverse Falls_**

Dipper watched as his older self worked on the bobsled like a car.

"Well," his counterpart speculated, "Whoever worked on this forgot to check a few wires here. Technically, the machine was operational, and completely safe to use, but the guidance computer system was aged a few years, and a lot of its components need to be replaced. A relatively easy fix. Shouldn't be more than a few minutes."

"Oh," Dipper let out a breath of relief, "That's good news."

He turned to the girls, who were standing a few feet away and were engrossed in their own conversation. Mabel seemed somewhat worried about becoming old, or…perhaps she was more worried that they turned out like Stan and Ford back home. The older Mabel mentioned something about a pun on a sweater, and Mabel laughed.

Dipper got back down next to his other and sighed.

"You and Mabel," he asked quietly, hoping to not be overheard. "Did you guys fight?"

The older Dipper looked at him strangely, and Dipper explained, giving him Stan and Ford's story, and how they were still at odds even after being reunited.

"Ah, I see," the older Dipper seemed to understand, "Old Pines stubbornness, I guess. My sister and I… we were always at odds, but…" He looked over to the girls and sighed. "When push comes to shove, I can count on her. And…I can only hope she can count on me."

Dipper nodded in agreement.

"Okay," the old man said, "Let's see how this works."

He flipped the switch and the tiny screen flickered to life with a little jingle.

"Aw! That's a cute jingle!" Mabel squealed next to the bobsled.

"Alright," the older Dipper speculated, "It's kept a log of all the worlds you two have travelled through." He messed with the buttons, flipping through the machine's history. "Huh. Been through a few of them, eh? Well, here's where you two started."

Dipper shook his head, "But that's not our home. That's just where we got the machine."

"Hmm…" old man Dipper stroked his goatee. "What about…"

He messed around with the controls for a minute.

"The computer identified some background radiation, on your persons," the old man said casually, "Harmless, but the radiation can be traced back to one of two worlds. Here."

The two earths took up the screen, labeled with two different symbols that Dipper couldn't really identify. And nothing about the two planets looked particularly different from each other.

"If it's not one, it's the other," the old man shrugged.

"Fifty-fifty," the older Mabel offered, "The best odds you _can_ get, honestly."

"Alright," Dipper stood confidently, "We'll give it a shot. Thanks for all you help guys."

He tried to turn to Mabel, but found her older counterpart instead. She assaulted him with a hug, and it lasted longer than Dipper was expecting.

"Sorry," she said after parting, "Just… you two take care of each other, okay?" She turned to Mabel and they both nodded.

With that, they left to the next world. This time, they landed in a back alley of town. They jumped out and rushed to the sidewalk, but nothing seemed different at first.

"Are we…" Mabel looked around, "Are we back?"

"I don't-"

Before he could answer, someone came up to them, fearfully eying them.

"Okay, look," he said to them, "I know I'm late, but I'll have the offering for you by Saturday, okay?"

"Uh… Okay?" Dipper was only slightly confused. "Take your time…?"

"You're too kind," the guy side, "Here, this is all the money I have."

He gingerly handed them his wallet, and after a moment of debate, Dipper held his hand up in refusal.

"You know what," he said, "Don't worry about it."

The guy looked surprised, but walked away, keeping an eye on them; like they'd pull out a knife or something.

"Was that…Robbie?" Mabel wondered.

"I…thought he looked familiar," Dipper speculated, "He wasn't in tight pants, or eyeliner, or...bad attitude, and junk."

"Maybe he finally grew as a person and was being super nice," Mabel suggested optimistically.

"We're in another dimension," Dipper decided.

"Hey! There they are!"

The twins turned to see too…acquaintances of theirs. Gideon Gleeful and Pacifica Northwest. Gideon looked…normal. It occurred to Dipper that he's never seen the ten-year-old in anything other than his stage outfit and a prison uniform. This version of Gideon wore shorts and a collared orange shirt, and his hair was…normal. His hair didn't make up for half of his height.

Pacifica was also a polar opposite of what Dipper was familiar with. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and tied with a red ribbon, and she wore a colorful pink jacket decorated with kittens sniffing flowers. She had a gap in her teeth, and looked at them with astonishment.

Gideon was the one that called them out. Dipper wondered if they should run, but they ran up to them before he could decide. Dipper made sure that he was between them and Mabel.

"What are you up to this time?!" the kid pointed a finger at him. "We haven't seen hide-nor-hair of you or your minions all day! What are you planning?"

"We were actually trying to go to the water park today," Pacifica said behind him, "So, if we could thwart your evil plan of the day and get it all over with, that'd be great."

She seemed to shy away, turning her head and averting her gaze from Dipper. Seriously, this was getting weird.

"I think we found the home of those two weirdo versions of us," Mabel pointed out.

"Yeah," Dipper agreed, "Makes sense, sort of. We're the bad guys here, while Lil' Gideon and Pacifica…"

"What in tar-nation are you two talkin' about?" Gideon stamped his foot. "You gonna sick your pig on us again?"

"Listen, dude," Dipper pointed a finger at Gideon's nose. Even in another dimension, this kid got on his nerves. "My sister and I have had the longest day of our lives. I have one nerve-ending to spare and you're doing jumping-jacks on it."

Mabel and Pacifica collectively snickered. Dipper continued.

"The twins you're looking for, are the twins that ejected me and my sister out of our home. We know where they are, and we could use your help."

Dipper held out his hand and gave Gideon a steely, unblinking gaze. He may not have been a bad kid here, but all of his evil schemes were ingrained in the back of Dipper's mind. This little twerp caused more trouble than half of the bullies back home could in a whole year.

"Alright," Gideon shook his hand, "But not without a little help."

He pulled out a chained necklace with a blue triangle attached to it.

"Bill," Gideon said politely, "Would you kindly come out and help us?"


	8. Chapter 8

**_Gravity Falls_**

Never has being home felt so foreign. They had infiltrated the Mystery Shack with Bill's help (still not used to that idea), and knocked out this universe's interpretation of Grunkle Stan. Now they were raiding the twin's bedroom for extra clothes.

"Why do I need this much hair gel?" Dipper asked, pulling out a large bottle that was a third of his height from the bottom of his doppelganger's closet.

"Don't know," Gideon answered behind him, "But you might need to use it, so hurry up and get dressed."

"Dibs on this room!" Mabel announced.

"Yeah," Pacifica agreed, "Boys have to go downstairs. Girls club!"

Dipper patiently grabbed his set of new clothes and went downstairs with Gideon close behind. They went into the break room to change. Gideon leaned against a pole, facing away from Dipper, but keeping him within his peripheral vision.

Dipper thought he'd try to lighten the mood, "Personally, I'd like to get you and Pacifica dressed like your counterparts on my world. Trick the lookalikes into thinking you were there for a villain's team up, or something."

Gideon didn't answer for a minute; he just stared straight ahead with his arms crossed.

"Pazzy and I," he finally said, "Are we really that bad?"

The tone of his voice set Dipper off a bit. He figured he was in a similar situation as Dipper: being told by some weird doppelganger that back home, wherever that is, you're the evil one. You're the bad guy. It didn't feel too good, honestly.

Dipper cleared his throat before answering, "Well, Pacifica can be a bit of a brat, sometimes, but she's kind of had it rough, with her parents being terrible people and everything..."

Gideon nodded. "Well, guess that hasn't changed."

"What do you mean?" Dipper asked while buckling his new black pants.

"Paz has had it rough here too," Gideon explained, "Her parents died in a house fire. She was in shock, and my parents took her in when nobody else would. The police never figured out how the fire started. At first, everyone thought it was her, but the money was never recovered."

He sighed, "Paz is like a sister to me, and I remember how cold and unresponsive she was when she first came to live with us. When I learned what had happened, I dedicated all the time I had to solving that case, and every clue I found lead to..."

He didn't want to finish the thought, all of the sudden, like the thought might have been offensive. Dipper finished it for him.

"Someone in the Pines family."

He nodded.

Dipper thought some more as he messed with his shirt. "She seems different now. Just...downright cheerful."

"It's her way to cope," Gideon said, "She adopted a new persona to make herself forget what had happened. As far as she knows, she's Pacifica Gleeful, my older sister and the free spirit of Gravity Falls."

The edge in his voice was familiar, but not necessarily aimed at Dipper. He eyed the blue chain dangling from Gideon's pocket. Bill Cipher of this world was still a triangle, but he had a bowler hat and a traditional tie.

"What about Bill?" He asked.

"What about him?"

"He's tried to kill me, and my family, several times now," Dipper explained.

Gideon didn't seem particularly disturbed by this. He answered, "My Bill is harmless. The Pines family have been abusing his power for years, near as I can tell. They keep summoning Bill's friends to terrorize the townsfolk." He pulled out a journal with a black cover and showed it to Dipper; it was marked with the number 3. "With Pacifica's help, we send his friends back home to his dimension."

Dipper finished with the shirt, which felt more like a blouse, and grabbed for that stupid cape. He shivered to think what Bill's "friends" looked like, or what they were capable of.

"Let's head back up," the white haired munchkin suggested, "The girls should be done by now."

As they walked out, Dipper tried to desperately warn the kid.

"Listen," he said as they walked, "I don't know what Bill told you, but you can't trust him. That meek little act he's got going on is just that: an act. He's a dream demon, and I don't even know what he wants, exactly, but he will betray you eventually. He did the same thing to me, and my great uncle Ford."

"Bill has been a good friend of mine," Gideon reassured, "If he was going to betray me, why hasn't he done it sooner?"

"Because you have the same enemy," Dipper pleaded with him. "What's going to happen when the Pines family gets put away? Has he even explained exactly what he wants?"

The kid didn't answer as they climbed the stairs.

"That's just my advice," Dipper said, "But if your Bill has told you as much about himself as _my_ Bill has, then you need to ask yourself who the real enemy is."

Gideon knocked on the door, and Mabel snapped back with an accent.

" _What_ do you _want_?!" she barked out, making Dipper flinch.

As Gideon steadily opened the door, Pacifica clapped her hands and bounced excitedly up and down.

"That was perfect!" She praised, "You sound exactly like her!" She turned to the guys enthusiastically, "Didn't she?"

"Yeah," Dipper shook off a shiver running up his spine, "She sure did. Save the act for when we get home, though. I can't really take seeing you evil again."

Mabel looked at him pitifully. "Aw…" Then she went back to scratching her legs. "What twelve-year-old wears panty hose?"

He shook his head and turned to the other kids. "Alright, so how does _evil_ me go about his day?"

"With a stick in his craw, no doubt," Gideon muttered. Seriously, what does that even mean?

Pacifica, being more helpful, answered, "Try being a computer. Like, shut down all emotions for as long as you can."

Mabel then offered, "Imagine what summer would have been like if you never came to Gravity Falls."

Dipper felt the color drain from his face. His eyelids lowered slightly and his lips seemed to seal themselves in a small frown. He spotted himself in a mirror and jumped at the image. It was him; that _other_ him.

"Wow," Pacifica said in wonder, "That was…perfect. Are we good to go?"

"One last thing," Gideon said, tossing Dipper the bottle of hair gel.

"Great…."


	9. Chapter 9

The bobsled crashed and slid along the grass behind the Mystery Shack. Much to Dipper's chagrin, Gideon's journal did not have an instant portal maker, so the four of them had to crowd in the seats of the bobsled. Dipper was out to push, and jumped into the back seat as the sled started its way downhill.

"Ow!" Pacifica said when they landed. Dipper all but crushed her legs.

"Sorry! Sorry," Dipper said, standing back up. He tripped out of the sled and landed on his face. "Ow."

Pacifica hopped out and helped him up while Mabel and Gideon snickered. She fixed his hair and adjusted the little bolo tie he had. The two made eye contact for a brief moment and got flustered. Pacifica shied away, and Dipper cleared his throat.

"Alright," Dipper said, "Let's go over the plan again. You have the flowers?"

Gideon pulled out a paper bag with the mysterious contents. "Parallax Bulbs," he explained, "According to the journal- er, _my_ journal- they release an odor that paralyzes the muscles instantly upon inhaling. You crush the bulb, and release the gas _away_ from your face." He demonstrated with a pretend bulb, holding the invisible thing away from his face and leaning away from his own hand as much as possible.

"Are you sure this will work?" Mabel wondered.

"Absolutely," Gideon answered, "The twins used this stuff against us at one point. They'll be out for at least a half hour."

He handed each of the twins a couple of bulbs. "You should be able to sneak up on both of them before they realize that you're imposters. Paz and I will be right behind you."

Dipper looked to Mabel and nodded.

"Let's roll," Dipper ordered and walked through the front door of the house.

Wendy and Soos were knocked unconscious. Wendy was muttering something about flannel while Soos was snoring away happily. Stan was sitting on the floor and propped up against the wall next to the vending machine. They looked him over, and saw that he was only knocked out. Dipper saw that the door behind the machine was cracked open, and he pulled it open further. He could hear someone talking.

"They're down there," Dipper reported quietly.

They made their way down to the lab, he and Mabel leading the way. They reached the initial operating room for the disassembled portal generator, where the Evil Mabel was working the computer.

Dipper silently signaled for Mabel to hang back, and she nodded. Dipper walked straight, confidently and emotionlessly to the other Mabel. She casually glanced at him, and then returned her attention to the codes and symbols on the computer.

"Where's my Pitt Cola?" she demanded irritably.

"Right here," Dipper crushed one of the bulbs and presented it to her. She coughed and stumbled.

"What is-?" she then fell over, her arms and legs frozen in place. She seemed to wordlessly glare up at Dipper, but the anger did little to hide the fear in her eyes.

Dipper looked into the initial room the portal was supposed to be in. Ford was in there, muttering random words and moving metal parts and pieces to different areas of the room. They were having him rebuild the portal.

Dipper looked to the others, who had come out of hiding.

"I need to snap Ford out of it," he said, "Mabel, help these guys carry your evil twin upstairs. If you run into the other me, you'll know what to do."

She nodded. Pacifica grabbed for the Evil Mabel's legs and Gideon grabbed her by the shoulders. Mabel led them up the stairs, and Dipper went over to Ford.

He was able to block Ford from his next objective, and he looked at Dipper in a faraway gaze.

"Blind eye," he muttered, "Blindness is seeing- no it isn't. Pine tree, shooting star, question mark, cypher wheel…. Must build the portal."

"Ford? Ford!" Dipper tried to snap him out of it. He needed to stop building this portal before he decides to use the rift, or do anything else dangerous. He's clearly out of it, and he needs to stop working on this portal immediately.

Dipper pulled out the other bulb and crushed it. Ford will be out of it for a while, but hopefully they can figure out a way to snap him out of it after they send their Evil Twins back home.

" _You dare?!_ "

Dipper jumped as he heard a booming voice echo from upstairs. He dashed up and skipped as many steps as he could. He burst out the front door to where a freak storm had blown in. The Evil Dipper was several feet in the air, floating below the center of the storm. Lightning struck a tree, causing it to split in half. Meanwhile, Dipper spotted a flash of blue dashing through the woods. He spotted a flash of pink and orange two.

Mabel had been found out. He needed to do something, now.

He spotted her paralyzed doppelganger lying motionless on the ground. He ran over to her and checked her over. She had to have _something_ he could use.

He pulled a knife from its sheathe out from under her. There were no markings or anything that distinguished it from another knife. It was the same knife as the one in his kitchen. What was he supposed to do with this?

He looked up at the reverse Dipper, and back down at the unmoving girl.

It wasn't his best plan, but it's something.

He pulled Mabel up and held her up with his arm, the knife in his free hand.

"Hey, Dip-stick!" he shouted over the winds. If he went by Dipper, then they both had to deal with the same kinds of insults, right?

The Evil Dipper looked down at him, his birthmark glowed brightly from his forehead, like they were tiny stars.

"Surrender!" Dipper commanded, "Now!"

"Or what?" the other Dipper lowered himself down and crossed his arms.

"Or you lose your partner!" Dipper held the knife to Mabel's chin, less than an inch from her skin.

His Evil twin glared down at him, expressing the first emotion Dipper had ever seen on him.

"You wouldn't!" he said to him, the slightest hint of fear in his voice. "That's your family too!"

"No," Dipper said, "This is _your_ sister, not mine!"

"You're not a killer! You'd never do it!"

"Then attack me, if you think I'm bluffing!" Dipper laid the edge of the blade to Mabel's neck.

The other Dipper stared at him for a unnerving amount of time. Dipper glared back with all the anger and hatred he could muster. There was no way he could actually do this, but he wasn't about to let him know that.

Finally, the reversed Dipper lowered himself to the ground. He pulled the cufflinks off of his sleeves and tossed them to the ground. He then crushed the jewels under his heel and raised his hands above his head.

"Fine," he said, "You win. I surrender on the condition that you let go of my sister. We will leave you and your family be, and depart peacefully. You have my word as a Pines."

Dipper lowered the knife and gently pushed the reversed Mabel to her brother.

"Br-brother…" she sounded angry.

"We lost, sister dear," he said to her, "He called my bluff. Conquering a world would mean nothing if I can't share it with you."

Dipper never really got why twins were portrayed as something creepy, or unnerving, in some movies. Now he understood, these two gave twins like him and Mabel a bad name.

He looked up at Dipper, simulating something of admiration.

"Well played," he said to him, "You make a worthy opponent. I don't know what those children told you about us, but we are not killers. At least, not yet. There's never really a _need_ to kill anyone. Everybody has their uses."

"Great," Dipper quipped, "I don't care."

"Such ruthlessness," he smirked, "Truly a force to be reckoned with on your own."

He looked over his shoulder at the real Mabel exiting the tree line, followed by the reversed Gideon and Pacifica.

"Makes one wonder what the two of you are actually capable of together," he finished. "Come, Mabel, it's time to go home."

He led them to their reversed rivals, and Mabel warily passed them and ran over to Dipper. She assaulted him with a hug.

"You're okay!" she said, "But what happened? How'd you calm him down?"

"Made him an offer he couldn't refuse," Dipper answered confidently, not letting on how rattled he was.

The four kids stood at the tree line, Pacifica waving wildly at him and Mabel. Their Dipper pulled out his journal and said the spell.

" _Emoh kcab latrop eht nepo! Emoh kcab latrop eht nepo! Emoh kcab latrop eht nepo!"_

With that, a swirling blue vortex opened up from under them, and the four disappeared.

The twins then sighed, realizing they hadn't been home all day. Stan had woken up from inside.

"Hey, kids! Dinner's almost ready!" he called from inside the house, "Wendy and Soos will be joining us. Could one of you get Ford? He's acting weird again!"

The twins looked at each other and sighed. It was like nothing had happened at all.

"I'm going to go wash this crud out of my hair," Dipper said.

Mabel nodded. "I'll go get Grunkle Ford and the others."

Dipper trudged upstairs and lost his costume in the bathroom. He made a silent vow to burn it as he started up the shower. Even after all of this, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something.

((((()))))

The bobsled sat there, in the dead of night behind the Mystery Shack. Its computer activated automatically, flashing a warning for a brief moment. Suddenly, it was gone, ripping through several universes before being obliterated, seemingly erasing itself from existence.

There was no way the machine could ever be used in this, or any other timeline.

 ** _The End!_**

 ** _But is it really? I'll update the story with a fun chapter every now and then. I can never get enough of Gravity Falls. If there's a particular AU and/or a particular episode of said AU that you would like to see, I will happily oblige as soon as I can. As a wise man once said "The song is ending, but the story never ends."_**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Gravity Rises_**

 ** _Double Dipper_**

"Why are we going to this party, again?" Mabel asked for the umpteenth time. She was wondering if she was being too quiet again, or if everyone was just ignoring her.

"Because it's a town party for all the young people," Dipper imitated the old lady who had told them about this party in the first place. He returned to his normal voice, "Plus, Wendy will be there."

Mabel rolled her eyes. She didn't want to encourage this behavior, but her brother was stubborn. Even if she tried to explain that she was fifteen, and he was twelve, he would have put some annoyingly optimistic spin on the situation and ignored her. Like usual.

"It's a family event," Ford explained while adjusting his coat and tie, "And I agreed to help host it."

"Lazy Susan pulled you into it, didn't she?"

Ford sighed, "That woman is like social quicksand."

Mabel shook her head. Looks like the only one of them set on having a good time was Dipper, and that was sure to end in tragedy as well.

They drove their way through town and to the high school. The gymnasium had been rented out for the event, a town meet n' greet where everyone in Gravity Falls shows up to gossip and chat about endlessly. There was a place for the grown-ups, and the dancefloor was reserved for the kids.

Local, self-employed handyman Soos was working as the DJ for the day's events. He worked with Ford often, and he had become good friends with Dipper on their first day here. The teens had taken the dancefloor, standing around with punch and milling about. Many looked to be just as excited to be here as Mabel was. The younger kids (i.e. those not old enough (or tall enough) to be in high school) took the corners and walls of the room, shuffling around the teens like gazelle trying to avoid lions.

"Well," Ford said, "You kids have fun, I have to go… make my rounds, as it were, with the locals."

With that, he left Dipper and Mabel to the mercy of the event.

"Whelp," Dipper said, puffing out his chest, "Time to go mingle. Catch you around."

"Wait, where're you-?" Mabel tried to reach out to him, but he was gone. Great, now she didn't even have Dipper to hang out with.

The "party" went on forever. Mabel spent her time hiding from conversations by the punch bowl, endlessly sipping on her cup of punch. Every now and then, she'd spot Dipper in the crowd, trying to strike up a conversation with the teens, who ignored him or laughed awkwardly at the small fry who thought he was a big shot. Whenever Mabel spotted him, she would try to glare at him, silently sending him all of her disgust towards him, but he never turned to her or gave any indication that he was aware of her. That kid must have been working on some serious caffeine, Mabel could swear at one point she saw two of them. Maybe she was just tired, or someone spiked the punchbowl when she wasn't looking.

"Hiding out by the punch bowl?"

Mabel snapped her attention to her left, where a boy had appeared from nowhere. He had white hair and spoke with a southern accent. He wore a rhinestone suit and bolo tie. Honestly, the only thing he was missing was the cowboy hat.

"Uh, yeah," Mabel answered, coughing slightly.

He saw that she was staring at his suit. "Yeah, this wasn't my first choice either," he said, "That dress looks nice on you though."

Mabel was surprised he could tell. She had worn the dress Ford had gotten her- a modest white number with sleeves and a billowy skirt- but she had kept her orange jacket on over it this entire time. Ford had said this was a formal event, but none of the older teens were dressed particularly well for this. She spotted Wendy wearing flannel and a bowtie.

"Thanks," she answered, taking another sip from her cup.

"My dad wants me to socialize more," he said, "thinks I'm becoming some kind of shut in."

Mabel snorted. "Well, I'm a shut-in, and I would never have started up a conversation like you have. So I guess you're in the clear."

"Heh, tell that to my dad," he chuckled, "My name's Gideon, by the way."

"Mabel," she answered back.

Oh God, was she doing this? She was actually holding a conversation with another person? What should she talk about now? Does he start? Does she start? Who starts first?

She was so busy panicking that she missed the question.

"What?" She asked.

"Have you seen anything strange in this town?" Gideon repeated.

"Uh..." Mabel set down her plastic cup decisively, "Nonspecific- I mean- Gotta go."

She marched off to a roped off hallway, where the teachers' lounge and restrooms were located. The lounge was open and full of laughing grownups who took turns switching out to check on the kids. Mabel went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She was so glad she wasn't the type to wear make-up.

"I hate small talk," she told her reflection, who silently gave her an equally irritable look to let her know that she agreed. Talking is the worst.

She finished up and walked out, bumping into Ford.

"Oh, hey kiddo," he greeted, appearing thankful that he ran into someone he knew. "How's the night going for you?"

"Terrible," Mabel said, feeling the need to complain, "I mean, why do people have to talk to each other? Why can't we just... enjoy the quiet?"

Ford sighed and got down on one knee in front of her.

"Socializing is a skill humans have developed for strategy in hunting, and to end things peacefully with rival groups. It is a skill that some, like your brother, have honed like a sharp blade. People like us do not have that special ability, which is why we need to practice more than others. Yes, it is easier to shut yourself out from the rest of the world, but talking to people becomes more and more a chore until..." He sighed, looking back at the room he exited, "You're the madman of Gravity Falls."

Mabel looked away, ashamed. That was what the townsfolk referred him as when they think her family was out of earshot. There was even one time where a child services agent was called to investigate the house, since Dipper and Mabel were living there for the break.

"Try to socialize a little more," Ford told her, "I know it's going outside your comfort zone, but who knows? You might find some adventure while you're here."

Great Uncle Ford, you have no idea, Mabel thought internally. She nodded.

He got up and straightened his bowtie. "Back into the fray," he waved and returned to the lounge.

Mabel also "returned to the fray," entering the dance floor one more time. She looked around for Gideon, but he had disappeared. So Mabel searched further until she spotted two girls sitting by themselves off in one corner of the room. Okay, so... baby steps.

She walked up to them and tried a friendly smile, in contrasted to her speeding heart.

"Hi," she said over the music, "I'm Mabel. Is this seat taken?"

The duo shook their heads and Mabel sat down.

"I am Candy," the little Korean girl introduced, "and this is Grenda."

She gestured to the girl sitting next to her, who was holding a pet iguana. "I thought bringing Reggie would help spark conversations," she said dejectedly.

"It's cute," Mabel said, reaching over to pet it.

New music started to play, and the teens started to dance. Er, at least, the dancefloor cleared up a little bit. Now everyone was grabbing partners and dancing like maniacs.

"We could dance," Mabel offered, "Or try to, in my case."

The two girls looked at each other and smiled. They got up and the trio danced with each other without a care in the world. Mabel didn't care who was watching her or how ridiculous she probably looked. She made two new friends today.

At one point, Mabel felt someone tap her shoulder. She spun around, expecting Gideon to have reappeared (though as to why she was expecting him, she had no idea), but she found her brother instead. He was huffing, out of breath, and his bowtie was undone.

"Mabel…" he huffed, "I could use your help…"

Mabel crossed her arms, remembering how irritated she was with him.

"It's rude to interrupt someone when they're dancing," Mabel told him, "Also not introducing yourself to my friends. Also ditching me at the start of this party."

"Sorry," he apologized, but there was a glimmer of pride in his eye when she mentioned friends. He didn't press it further, instead just continuing with the conversation. "Ladies, apologies." He tipped an invisible hat. "Mabel, I need your help."

She sighed and turned to the girls.

"Do you have a pen?" she asked them, "or a sharpie?"

Candy handed her one and she wrote her phone number on Grenda's arm.

"Let's all hang out sometime," she told them. She was then led away by her brother.

"What's so wrong that you can't handle it yourself?" Mabel asked her.

"Uh…" Dipper thought for a second. "It involves a copy machine… and an uprising of other _me_ 's."

"Of course," Mabel said, "How silly of me to think that you _haven't_ messed with something."

 ** _Greetings, fellow Fallers! Thank you for reading this far, and I am sorry about some of the au's you might have wanted to see here. Some of them are interesting, but I can't really think of a decent way to include them. However, more one-shots abound for universes like this._**

 ** _Thank you again, and see y'all next time._**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Reverse Falls_**

 ** _Not What He Seems_**

The day began normally enough- Dipper was flipping through his journal, searching for more summons or curses while Mabel was obsessing over Gideon- but it began with a shift in gravity.

Mabel shouted and tried to grab her table to keep from flying any higher, but the table lifted up with her. Dipper simply observed the room around him, emotionlessly searching for the cause of the event while floating towards the ceiling.

Suddenly, he flipped through the air, kicking the wall and diving towards Mabel. He tackled her to the ground just as the gravity returned, softening the blow when they landed. The desk, however, crashed into the floor, shattering Mabel's mirror and shredding some of the pictures she had collected.

Mabel stood back up and lifted the mirror slightly. "My shrine!" She cried out.

"One less eyesore for my day," Dipper shrugged.

Mabel stood with a fiery anger. "Who is responsible for this?!"

She turned to her brother, who seemed to be lost in thought, searching for an answer.

"There is only one artifact in the house that could generate this kind of power," he told her.

Then she remembered. Their brief victory over Gideon and his little friend gave their grand uncle a certain amount of time with all three journals. Certainly enough time to make copies...

"We need to move," Dipper grabbed her arm, "Now!"

They rushed down the stairs, looking for their Great Uncle Stanford. Wendy, the usual gift shop checker, had disappeared, obviously scared off from the gravity event from earlier. Soos was also nowhere to be seen. Mabel dismissed the thought; handymen needed days off eventually, she supposed.

They burst through his office and found a box sitting out in the open. Dipper pulled it off the desk and set it down on the ground.

"What is this mess?" Mabel wondered aloud.

Dipper pulled out some of the contents.

"False identities," Dipper observed. "It seems our Grand Uncle has his own secrets…"

"Interesting…" Mabel thought for a moment, "Do you think our Uncle is a crime lord in hiding?"

Dipper shook his head, "He's a conman, but he's hardly supervillain material. You search the rest of the shack for clues, I'm going to sort through this- Oh…"

"What is it?" Mabel looked over his shoulder.

"A cipher of some sort…" Dipper pulled out a paper for her to see. "Doesn't this seem familiar to you?"

Mabel looked at the code. "It looks like the buttons on the vending machine in the gift shop."

"Hmm," Dipper thought, "Let us investigate this…"

The twins left the office and dialed in the code to the machine. They found the ominous hallway that spiraled its way down through the ground.

"Utter madness," Mabel said in wonder. Dipper silently led the way, committing every rivet to memory, no doubt.

They reached the control room, where they spotted the man-of-mystery himself, punching commands into the computer. He heard the twins creeping up behind him and spun around. Fear turned into a trying smile.

"Kids!" he greeted with false excitement.

"Uncle," Mabel folded her arms. "Care to explain?"

He smiled, wide, looking back at the machine in the next room, before turning back to them with a grim expression. "It's too soon," he answered.

"What's too soon?" Mabel questioned.

Stanford looked them apologetically. "It was supposed to be after the summer. After you've gone back home to Piedmont-"

"I hate to break this to you, Uncle," Mabel interrupted, "But we run this town, now. We have no intention of going back to little Piedmont, California. Ever."

Dipper nodded in silent agreement next to her.

Their Uncle sighed in defeat. "It doesn't matter either way," he told them, "He's here. We should go greet him."

They stood in the portal room and grabbed a hold of the railing that was provided. Gravity seemed to have been all but destroyed, no doubt wreaking havoc across Gravity Falls.

"Should we do something about that?" Mabel wondered.

Stanford shook his head. "It's too late. It's out of my hands."

Soon, a bright flash of light filled the room, and for a brief moment, Mabel thought she was dead. She opened her eyes to see that the room around them had fallen apart. Dipper had put his arm around her shoulders to protect her. All this must have scared him. She nodded to him, silently thanking him for the gesture.

They turned to the portal and saw the man standing there, wearing white robes and a hood over his head. Mabel saw his massive hands move and remove his hood, revealing a carbon copy of the Stanford Pines standing next to her.

"The author of the journals," Stan introduced, "My twin brother."

The man stood there staring for a good minute. Finally, he spoke.

"…Stanley…" he said, "I've been watching…"

"Stanley?" Mabel wondered. All of this had racked her brain so much that she had forgotten about her accent. It served its purpose, it gave her and her brother a "more sophisticated than thou" attitude towards the townsfolk, and they eat it up, but now it just seems... silly.

"Your name is Stanford," Mabel completed the thought. No one had seemed to have heard her.

"O-oh," their uncle sounded scared as he walked up to greet him. "Is that a fact-"

Suddenly, his voice stopped working. He looked like he was choking, but nothing was touching him. The twin held out his hand like a dark lord, and Stan flew his neck into his grip. He held Stan up off the floor by his neck. Mabel was able to see that he actually had six working fingers on each hand.

"You banished me from this world," he growled at his twin, "for thirty long years. You took my house, you took my name…"

He was going to kill him, Mabel then realized. He was actually going to snap his brother's neck.

"He engineered your return," Dipper said quickly.

The newcomer- the man who appeared to be the _real_ Stanford- lowered their uncle back on the ground. "Out of fear, perhaps," he answered, "certainly not loyalty."

"He…" Dipper showed a hint of desperation, "He also secured the Northwest fortune."

Mabel looked at her brother. Didn't he say that the Pines family had nothing to do with that fire?

The man thought for a moment. "The entire fortune?" he quizzed.

"One only needs to claim it," Dipper said.

"Hmm," he thought, "that is a considerable amount... and one that could be useful for our cause." He let go of their uncle's neck. "Well done, Stanley. Your insatiable greed was good for something after all."

He set the man back on the floor, letting him breathe. While "Stanley" fought to recover his breath, Stanford turned to them and smiled.

"Children," he greeted, "Schermie's grandchildren, yes?"

Mabel shivered, "H-how did you-?"

"I'm a _real_ psychic, child, you have no idea what I am capable of." he answered snidely. "Now, is this how you greet family? Come give your Great Uncle Stanford a hug…"

He gestured with his hands, and Mabel and Dipper's shoes skidded across the floor at him. They embraced him like they would a loving grandfather, but they knew better. Mabel had many questions for her brother, but she knew that they were of one mind on one thing…

They needed to get away from this man.

 ** _Dun-dun-duuuuuuuun._**


	12. Chapter 12

**_Alright, so I guess this is the one alternate universe that everyone wanted to see, so here it is! Hopefully I do this one justice, enjoy!_**

 ** _Transcendence_**

 ** _Prior to the events in Chapter 6_**

Dipper wasn't sure if the trip was causing him to hallucinate, or if what he just saw was the truth.

"Mabel," he blinked away the blurriness, "Did I just see a pack of goblins duck inside a school?"

"Yeah…" she answered, "I think you did." Dipper could feel her shift around in the sled and look around. "Whoa…"

"What's going…Oh…" Dipper stood and stepped off.

They had landed in what could still be recognized as Gravity Falls. They had landed on the roof of one of the buildings, maybe one of the local shops. From up here, the small town certainly looked…different.

"Look at the people," Mabel said in wonder, "What are they using?"

Dipper looked at them, most of them were looking at some kind of watch on their arms. Dipper spotted one girl with an open book with glowing characters floating off the pages; this didn't seem to grab any unusual attention.

"What is going on here?" Dipper wondered.

He then spotted a sign set up on the sidewalk like a neighborhood watch notice. It took him a minute to decipher the words from this distance, but he could eventually read it.

"Welcome to Gravity Falls," he read aloud, "under the protection of the Order of Ursa Major."

"Wait… you mean like…" Mabel started to worry. Due to his rather unfortunate birthmark, Mabel spent a night staying up and trying to look for as many positive outlooks on being stamped with the Big Dipper constellation. She also learned that the Big Dipper was also a part of the Ursa Major constellation.

"I don't want to be here anymore," Mabel decided.

Dipper looked back to the sled.

"We need a boost," Dipper told her, "And there's no real way to get momentum with the bobsled up here. Not unless we're willing to throw ourselves over the side."

"Hey!"

The twins jumped as they heard a voice down below them.

"Hey, kid!" he called again. "I know you're up there!"

Dipper hesitantly looked over at the teen below him.

"You two aren't gonna jump, are ya?" the teen asked. He seemed familiar, but Dipper couldn't place his face.

"Wasn't part of the plan," he called down casually. He spotted Mabel at the corner of his vision, pulling on the hatch that undoubtedly leads into the building below them. It didn't budge. "We, uh, appear to be stuck. I don't suppose you could, like, call the police? Or the fire department, or something?"

"Why not call the dude?" the teen asked.

Dipper looked at him oddly. Knowing how his day was going, the guy could be talking about Soos. "Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever, could you just call him and help us out, please?"

"Sure thing," he answered, "it'll be just a minute!"

He disappeared down an alley, out of sight.

"I've got a bad feeling, all of a sudden," Dipper admitted uneasily. "Did that guy look familiar to you?"

Mabel shrugged, unsure herself.

Dipper and Mabel waited a few minutes. They settled for sitting down and resting for a few minutes.

"So…" Mabel wondered, "Marvel Civil War…"

"Don't even start," Dipper smirked, closing his eyes and resting his head on the ledge. The last time this came up in conversation, they argued for an hour, dragging it throughout the entire Mystery Shack. It only ended when Wendy "exploded" into the argument with Soos, shocking the twins into silence, and then laughter at the realization of the ridiculousness of the argument itself.

"I'm not going into politics again," Mabel promised, "but I do wonder who would win…"

Dipper sighed. "Captain America," he then answered.

"Really?" Mabel wondered, "Iron man is genius, and he has Shield, secret agents, government resources…"

"Rogers has experience," Dipper argued, "with, like, actual war. He's a strategist, and most of the heroes back him up anyway."

"That's true…"

"Plus, he beats Tony in all the subtle ways. He's not going to go into a mission half-tailed and unprepared."

"Eh, fair enough," Mabel shrugged. "I'm still on Ironman's side, though."

"Because you think he's right, or because you still want him to be your boyfriend?"

"I can dream, can't I?"

" _Careful of dreams_ ," a voice behind them said, " _They can turn to wishes. And if you're not careful, wishes can…"_

The twins jumped up on their feet and spun around to the source of the voice.

"… _they can come true_ …" the thing said.

They took a minute staring at each other. He was floating in the air over the ledge, dressed in nice black clothes. He had a top hat sitting lopsided on his head, and little bat wings on his lower back that stretched out three feet away from him. His eyes were black and yellow, erasing whatever theory Dipper had that this thing was human.

"Who are you?" Dipper questioned it. "What are you?"

The thing floated closer, circling around them and carefully observing them.

" _That_ ," he finally answer halfway through his first lap, " _is supposed to be_ my _question_."

He completed the circle and continued to float around them slowly.

" _I am known as Alcor,"_ he introduced, " _And you appear to be real, as far as I can tell_."

The twins looked at each other. Why would he think they're not real?

"I'm Dipper," Dipper tried to introduce themselves, "And this is my sister Mabel."

At these names, Alcor froze, like time had just stopped around him.

Dipper cleared his throat as he realized what he was looking at. "You…you're a demon, aren't you?"

Alcor didn't answer for a good minute. He turned his head and took to answering over his shoulder.

" _…_ _Yes,_ " he answered, " _I am a demon. The world's first, and only, benevolent demon. I make deals to help others the best way I can. Now, which one of my enemies sent you?_ "

"What?" Dipper said, "Why would-"

Suddenly, all the light in the world seemed to just disappear. Dipper felt cold, and he felt Mabel hugging his arm tightly. Alcor was in his face, his veins glowed red, his eyes burned with blue fire, and he seemed about ten seconds away from devouring them both.

" ** _What are you?_** " the being demanded.

"Dipper!" Mabel screamed behind him.

"I know, Mabel," Dipper whispered, "I'll handle-"

"No," she said, hugging him tighter, "I mean… _he's_ Dipper!"

Dipper looked at her, and turned to the demon. Alcor seemed to have calmed down some, sunlight was visible again, this darkness bubble of theirs was lifting, and he slowly returned to his "human" form. Alcor looked at his sister with…well, longing. He looked at her in a way that honestly scared Dipper. If that's the "Dipper" of this world, then what on earth happened to Mabel?

" _Very few are privy to that information,_ " Alcor explained, " _Why don't you tell me what has happened?_ "

"Well, you see-" Dipper began.

" _I was not talking to you,_ " Alcor snapped, " _Please, Mabel, continue._ "

Mabel cleared her throat and stepped forward between Dipper and the demon. She told him how they were first captured and sent spiraling to another world, and how they've been hopping from world to world after that, desperately trying to get back home. After a minute or two, Alcor seemed to brush something from his eye.

" _Sorry,_ " he said, " _It's just…it's been a while._ "

"A while since what?" Dipper asked him.

Alcor ignored him. " _Well, it seems all you need is a jumpstart. I'll help you with that…on one condition."_

"Which is…?" Dipper questioned him.

Alcor acknowledged him, smiling. He materialized something in his hands, a box that displayed a group of kids playing a board game.

" _Just one round,_ " he promised, " _and I'll send you on your merry way._ "

 ** _Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of this universe, and I hope I did these characters justice. Thank you for reading._**


	13. Chapter 13

**_Wow! So many suggestions! Okay, well now that I have a few to go on, I guess I have to include at least some of them. Well, let's get started._**

 ** _Note: None of these following chapters are in any particular order, unless stated otherwise. Let's just agree that they all occur prior to Chapter 6._**

 ** _Blinded au_**

 ** _Prologue:_**

"Okay," he pointed at his reflection, telling him off, "You're going to do it. Er, _I'm_ going to do it. No backing out now."

Everything was perfect: the Blind Eye Society had gone home early, Blind Ivan was not feeling well, so he went to bed early, and Dipper essentially had the whole museum to himself.

His whole life is equivalent to a couple of months. Almost two months. Dipper has been keeping track, memorizing what he did on each day this first year of his. His first year in the order, as an apprentice to Blind Ivan. Everything aside from his duties as a member was a distraction.

But that didn't stop Dipper from learning every detail about his home. Aside from the members of the Blind Eye, there was Roby Valentino, Lazy Susan, Tambry, Grenda, Candy Chu, the Northwest family…

Well, that's the whole reason he's doing this, isn't it? He knows every person in Gravity Falls, in a way that they're not even aware of, but they don't know him. He can't just blatantly disregard Ivan and ignore his orders, but surely he could just take a look around, right?

Plus, that blond Northwest girl, Pacifica… she didn't just question him, like others do, she _recognized_ him, from his life _before_ the Order. That means Dipper's home is right here, in Gravity Falls! Who knew right?

Besides, if he's going to protect these people, he needed to know his own "hunting grounds," right?

Dipper shook his head, he's hesitating again. At this rate, he's going to spend all night talking himself into this, he needed to move!

Sneaking out of the dungeon and tiptoeing his way outside was a snap. He found a donation box and borrowed the clothes that looked about his size. The shorts were big and baggy, but there was a belt that helped with that.

He was ready, he was disguised, he could take on the town, and be back before Ivan could wake up and realize he was missing. Every detail was planned out.

He just didn't think that the first thing he'd see would be a missing person's poster with his face on it.

((((()))))

Dipper and Mabel were at a standoff, again, with their doppelgangers. The two sets of twins reflected each other in, yet, another reversed way. Dipper held an arm out in front of his Mabel, who was holding onto the extra battery they needed. They had raided the golf kart for its battery and were just about to make their getaway, when this version of Mabel and Dipper rounded a corner and caught them red handed. This world's Mabel hand her arm out over Dipper, as he tried to crane his neck and look past her at them. He looked more perplexed than anything else.

"Mabel," this Dipper wondered, "Do we have evil twins? Because I don't think twins of twins is very plausible."

"That's not as crazy as I'd like that to be," Dipper answered him, "Not with the day we've been having."

"I don't know what you are, or what evil wizard sent you," the other Mabel threatened, "But you are _not_ getting anywhere _near_ my brother."

"We're not bad guys," Dipper tried to tell her, "Sorry, I know we're stealing you're battery, and everything, but we need it. We're trying to get back home."

Mabel looked at him skeptically. He had never known her to be skeptical, only cheerful, and optimistic. What happened here? What happened to her?

This Mabel had traded her sweaters for a large blue jacket, one with a pouch on the inside. She appeared to be waiting for any weirder excuse to whip out that journal.

"You're…what?" the other Mabel tried to guess, "Another version of _us_ from another world?"

"Actually, yes," Dipper was glad he didn't have to say it for once. He was surprised how the same brand of crazy could get old so fast and leave a bad taste in your mouth. "And we're trying to get home," he repeated, "If you'd let us."

"Mabel," the other Dipper put a hand on his sister's shoulder, "I think they're telling the truth. Gut feeling."

Mabel rigidly relaxed her arms and let her brother stand beside her, rather than behind her. Dipper followed suit with his Mabel. His doppelganger held up the back of his hand to show him a mark that sent shivers down Dipper's back.

"The Society of the Blind Eye?" Dipper observed, "You're a member?"

"And you got a tattoo of the symbol on your hand?" Mabel said, sounding impressed.

"Permanent Marker," the other Dipper explained, shrugging, "Still hasn't washed out yet, but I'm trying."

"What happened here?" Dipper asked him.

The other two sighed. "Blind Ivan happened," this world's Dipper answered.

"He kidnapped my brother to replace him after he died," the other Mabel explained, "Completely destroyed his memories, and kept him in that… that… _cult_ for two months. Meanwhile, I thought he had died. It's a miracle at all that I found him."

She sniffed and looked off to the side, there was a slight quiver to her lip that Dipper just managed to catch before she stiffened it again. She was broken, he could tell, and the sudden absence made her bitter, more agitated, and paranoid.

"All you need is that battery, yes?" the other Dipper questioned. They nodded. He looked at the twins in a strange way, but then smiled. "A small favor, then."

He walked up to Dipper and led him a couple of steps from the girls.

"As you can imagine," he told Dipper, "I've had a hard time…well, an impossible time trying to remember who I am. We still go out to hunt for my _memory vial_ , but in the meantime, I pester Mabel with questions. It's… weighing on her. So I was hoping if…"

"Look, man," Dipper answered, "I don't how much our histories differ. I could be feeding you false information."

"No, no," he waved his hand to dismiss the idea, "I just need the answer for one question. Our birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to do something nice for her. Do you know what her favorite cake flavor is?"

Dipper blinked, but then answered, "She doesn't have one. Er, she likes all of them. Last year, she tried to bake a cake by mixing all the flavors in the same batter. It didn't work out so well, but…"

The other Dipper smiled, "That's perfect. I can work with that. Thank you."

He stepped away from him and waved him off, "Good luck on your journey home."

With that, they left Dipper and Mabel alone to lug the new battery back to the machine. They did so in relative silence, not really sure how to process this version of the world...


	14. Chapter 14

**_Gravity Falls 1920's au_**

 ** _The Hand That Rocks the Mabel_**

Dipper sighed, pausing his pace in front of his apartment door. He had to remind himself to be quiet, as to not wake her. He had dragged his feet and stomped his way upstairs to his room, now he had to go back to being stealthy.

He messed with his key and opened the door, which seemed contempt with giving away his position; creaking loudly. He entered and slipped out of his shoes. His feet ached after a long night of… "work."

"Dipper?"

He froze at the sound of his sister's voice. He walked further in and spotted her sitting there patiently under a reading light, in one of the chairs next to the radio. She was very still, which was unlike her. She was usually busy with chores around the house, if she's not at work: the girl could not sit still. Dipper swore that he stepped out of the room for ten minutes, and she was putting the finishing touches on a brand new sweater. Seeing her like this, Dipper knew he was in trouble.

"Hey, Mabel," he greeted, trying for a smile. "Sorry I'm late."

"You're early, actually," she corrected, standing up and walking over to him. "It's three in the morning. What work at the Mystery Shack could possibly need you to stay out _this_ late?"

Dipper didn't answer, didn't move. He was at a loss for words, he thought he had been getting pretty good at lying. Apparently he could lie to anyone _except_ Mabel. There was nothing that came to mind that would sound reasonable. He hoped he would just disappear into the shadows long enough for her to go to bed.

She turned on the lights to get a better look at him and gasped.

"Dipper!" she said in horror, "You're bleeding!"

Dipper cursed silently, the wound on the side of his head must have reopened.

"Mabel, I-"

"Shut up!" she demanded, "Just. Shut. Up!"

She scurried over to the bathroom while Dipper sat in one of the kitchen chairs. He pulled the journal out of his vest and let it flop on the table.

"You promised me," Mabel accused him, while opening up a first aid kit and dabbing a cloth with disinfectant. "You promised you'd tell me if something was wrong."

"I didn't want to worry you," Dipper tried to answer. He winced at the sting the cloth brought him. "Ow!"

"Dipper…" It's not the anger that gets Dipper, it's what comes after. Her eyes would well up and she'd just look at him with all the sadness and worry that just makes him feel even dirtier than when he is at work.

"What happened?" she asked, her anger apparently evaporating.

Tonight was a failed attempt at breaking and entering. He and Wendy, a crazier girl than Mabel is (with her trousers and handgun), were trying to search the Gleeful office for dirt. Stan, the old buzzard, just had to have something on his old rivals. They got caught in the act by one of the stage hands. It couldn't have been one of the scrawny ones. It was a wall of muscle that tossed him and Wendy around like a salad. They managed to escape, but Dipper took a brick to the head when he looked over his shoulder. They were lucky they weren't recognized, otherwise he would have gotten others to give chase.

Dipper decided to tell her the truth, excluding some of the other details.

"You know Gleeful?" he asked her.

"The stage Magician?" Mabel was astonished. "He asked me out to grab an egg sandwich the other day! What were you doing to him?"

"We were trying to find dirt on him," Dipper explained, "He's made a lot of noise to let everyone know he's back in town. Stan thought he might have been up to something."

Mabel sat there, examining his face and nudging his head from side to side; searching for more cuts and bruises. He's lucky that most of the damage was under his clothes.

"Well," she said, "I hope it was worth it. No more risks, okay?"

"Stan promised us that he wouldn't send us on something like that ever again," Dipper tried to assure her.

"Yeah, well Stan promises a lot of things," Mabel said bitterly, closing her little medical kit.

Dipper sighed and watched her put the kit back up.

"There's dinner for you," she called from the bathroom, "but it's cold."

"Thanks," Dipper stood up and walked over to a plate covered in aluminum foil. He was assaulted with a hug before he could make it to his food. He wrapped his arms around Mabel to comfort her. He felt her breath catch in a sob.

"I just... I hear all this talk of gangsters and crime bosses and... I worry, okay?"

"It's okay," he told her. "I'm still here. It's okay…"

Just then, the phone rang. Dipper would have let it ring, but he could only guess who could have been calling at this hour.

"Kid!" the Man of Mystery himself exclaimed, "Er, uh, Dipper… How are you feeling kiddo?"

Dipper, still holding onto Mabel, sighed. "Still in one piece, Grunkle Stan."

He knows he doesn't particularly like that nickname. He could almost hear him wince over the phone.

"Eh…good to hear it," Stan answered, "You and Wendy actually got something. The little brat's diary! It looks like he's got a thing for our favorite honest damsel!"

Dipper sighed. He hated the way they talked about Mabel, how she was "too good" to work at the Shack. She's got an honest job at the local Diner with Lazy Eyed Susan.

"What do you want, Stanford?" Dipper asked him.

"Nothing right now," he answered, "Just bring Mabel when you come in to work tomorrow. Er, later today. This is going to be great!"

He hung up eagerly. And Dipper began to wonder if coming to a big city like Gravity Falls was a mistake.


	15. Chapter 15

**_Okay, so this doesn't align with any specific cannon, but I decided that it should be posted in the spirit of Valentine's Day. This one-shot will feature our favorite characters a few years after the last episode (depending on how that turns out…)._**

 ** _Anyways, enjoy!_**

Dipper was so happy to be back, Gravity Falls had been like a second home to him, and that fateful summer felt like a whole other life altogether.

Now he was fifteen years old, and ready to "take on the town" in more ways than one. First things first, though, he had to catch up with all his friends. His first day here was spent catching up with some quality time with the family, including Wendy and Soos. Now it was the second day, Mabel was out with Grenda and Candy, and Dipper...

Well, he had to check on his girlfriend, didn't he?

He entered the diner, half expecting everyone to greet him with smiling faces like he was some town hero. He knew better, but he admits that it all goes to his head sometimes.

Well, instead of everyone in town enjoying their coffee and pancakes for brunch, Dipper found that most of the people there were crowded around a booth in the back. Dipper wondered what the commotion was about, but decided to find a seat. Pacifica was going to be here any-

He spotted the back of her head, sitting in the booth everyone had surrounded. His heart fluttered with excitement, but his head was filled with confusion. Was she showing off some new purse or outfit she recently got? That didn't really sound like her, though.

Over these past few summers, Dipper watched as his girlfriend grew into someone completely different. Her attitude towards people changed, she was charitable, and she helped people by doing more than just throwing money at them. However, she still isn't perfect; every now and then she'd brag about some knew phone, or complain about whoever was copying her style. That's okay though, she was one of Dipper and Mabel's best friend, after all.

Dipper heard the people aw over the booth, adding on to his confusion.

"I could just dip him in my coffee and eat him up!" Lazy Susan swooned.

"It's so cute, it's sapping away my manliness!" Lumberjack Dan exclaimed.

"I officially declare this baby to be unlawfully adorable." Officer Blubs commented.

 _Baby?_ Dipper thought to himself. _What baby?_

The crowd parted when they noticed he had arrived, happily welcoming him back and clapping his shoulder, but it all just kind of tuned out for Dipper. His eyes locked onto his girlfriend and the small child in the booster seat at the end of the table. The baby had big brown eyes that looked around with innocent glee, his blond hair shined brightly in the light, he was wrapped up in a diaper, and wore a bib with the words "Big Boys Eat It All!" in goofy blue and green letters. The kid must have been only a few months old.

Pacifica was in the middle of giving him another spoonful of baby food when she looked up at Dipper. She greeted him excitedly.

"Hey!" She said in wonder. She stood up to greet him further, but paused when she saw the look on his face.

"Pacifica," Dipper began to promise, "I promise, I'm gonna take... take care of..."

His vision narrowed. His legs gave out from under him. The last thing he was conscious of was the sound of a baby crying.

* * *

Dipper sat on the back step of the ambulance as the paramedic wrapped up his examination. He walked away, giving Pacifica a moment to talk to him. She looked extremely worried, and carried the child on her hip. Dipper stood up to meet her eyes.

"Hey," she said, "Are you doing okay?"

Dipper looked at the child.

"Oh," she realized she had not properly introduced the two, "This is baby Bobby. Remember when I said we'd be having a guest for our date?"

Dipper nodded, remembering the text. He had forgotten about it though.

"Pacifica," he grabbed her shoulders, "I am so sorry I hadn't been here for you. But I'm here now, and I promise I'll-"

A car horn honked, pulling the teens' attention away for a moment.

"Oh, that's his parents," Pacifica said. She turned her attention to Bobby and nuzzled his nose with hers. "I'll see you later, cousin," she cooed him.

"Cousin?" Dipper blinked.

"Just a sec," Pacifica handed him over to a mother, who promised she'd see her back at the mansion. She soon returned to Dipper. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"He's…" Dipper slowly connected the dots. "He's not my…our…"

Pacifica, suddenly understanding her boyfriend's interpretation of the situation, covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh. My God."

"Paci," Dipper begged, "Please."

"You thought he was-?" her joy of his torment growing. "Even though we never-?"

She held started hugging her sides as she howled in surprise laughter. Dipper only sighed and waited patiently, he brought this upon himself. Nothing he could do about now but accept what's coming.

She crossed her arms and leaned forward. "You _do_ know where babies come from, right?"

" _I know where babies come from_ , yes, but I just-" He tossed his head back and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I didn't think this through."

"We skype," she reminded him, "You think I would have gone through nine months looking this great? Or that'd I'd _forget_ to bring it up in conversation?"

"I'm _sorry_ , okay?" Dipper pleaded. "Can we please forget this ever happened?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she started giggling again. "I just had a really mean thought."

 _Oh boy. Here we go._ "What's that?" Dipper asked.

"I thought about saying "Your baby is at the daycare,"" she pointed at a building down the street; an advertisement for a local daycare.

"You're a cruel, cruel girlfriend," Dipper told her. "Just promise me you'll never tell Mabel about this."

As if on que:

"What's up, Lady-killah?" Mabel burst from behind the ambulance. "How's it going Baby-mama?"

Pacifica buried her face into Dipper's chest in a failed attempt to muffle her partially embarrassed laughter, while Dipper slowly shook his head, dying of shame. He smiled into his girlfriend's hair. "How much did you hear?" he asked, defeated.

"Everything," Mabel whispered in a creepy voice, "And its amazing."

Without breaking eye contact, she brought up a camera and snapped a picture.

"Scrapbook-ortunity!" she waved the camera in the air and started to run.

Dipper sighed. "I'm going to get her back, one of these days."

"Never going to happen," Pacifica reassured him.


	16. Chapter 16

**_Okay, I know I've been ignoring this one for a while, and as an apology, I have written (my attempt at) a complete story! So, without further ado, enjoy!_**

 ** _Also note: the episode takes place before "Not What He Seems" so this chapter will as well._**

 ** _Reverse Falls_**

 ** _(Adapted) Northwest Mansion Noir_**

* * *

He had no real business being here. He didn't really want to come here, but here he was.

The remains of the massive building laid there like a scorched carcass. In the few short years that passed since the fire, it's a wonder that nothing has been done to clean it up. It has only been sitting here, slowly rotting away into the earth out in the country side. The property already had stone walls erected around it, the only thing done to keep people out was a series of signs every few feet along the wall, as well as a lock with chains around the main gate.

In the case of someone like Dipper, it might has well have been left open.

The journal made several references to this mansion, and it speculated on whether the people inside were possible "followers." He could only assume as to _what_ they were "following," as the book didn't go into detail. Perhaps that was what the author intended, to confuse those foolish enough to come along and steal the journals for themselves.

Regardless, that Gleeful child presented him with many…questions. Twists of guilt and concern pulled at his stomach and hung on his heart like a weight on a chain. Were the Pines family a group of Scoundrels? Yes. Conmen, blackmailers, thieves (with a little pug trafficking on the side)? Sure.

Murderers and arsonists? Now _that_ was the fantasy. If they had ever threatened to _kill_ anyone, it was a bluff. Stanford has been cheating people out of their money for _years_ , long before Dipper and his twin were born, but he would never go so far as to _kill_ for it, would he? These were the questions Dipper needed answering. If he was lucky, he may even find clues to the author's identity.

He finished the glyph on the wall and whispered his spell.

" _Enots dna kcirb hgourht klaw nac I, noitatnacni siht htiw_."

The light around the brick shimmered, and the glyph he drew faded. He tested it with his hand, seeing it ripple the wall like it was water. He stepped forward, temporarily blinded by the now liquidated wall for only a moment, before appearing on the other side. He looked behind him to see it rippling behind him ceased after he exited it.

A slight smile pulled at the side of his lip. A successful test of a spell he wanted to try out for a while. The only drawback was the set up time. He didn't think to time himself, but he'll have a work-around for that. He turned back to the dead, blackened building.

He walked through what might have been a parlor room, though it was hard to tell with almost none of the walls standing. It was like walking through the skeleton of a monstrous beast that lived long ago, and it was just as eerie.

He scanned the ground level of the house, walking through every roofless room and dark hallway that was available. Aside from some beams that laid across the floor, and whatever remained of some of the furniture, there was nothing to be found here.

That's when he saw her. She was crouching down at some scorched remains at a corner, trying to lift bits and pieces of it up to examine, only to have it fall apart in her fingers.

A vice gripped the young boy's heart, and the surprise of seeing one of his rivals _here_ of all places made his eyes widen. Paz (What kind of name was "Paz?") hadn't seen or heard him yet; she's oblivious to his presence. He let anger wash over him and he stormed over to her.

"Gleeful!" he called her out.

She stood and spun around all at once, appearing more surprised than Dipper was a moment ago. She had her neon pink and purple jacket that had to be the latest relic of the eighties. She had her jean shorts and bright pink shoes that hurt to look at. Her jacket was opened to show that a fluffy animal was illustrated on her shirt: a llama, of all things. Her hair was tied back with a scrunchy and she held an obnoxiously pink backpack by its strap. It was small enough to belong to an eight-year-old. She placed her hands up to show she meant no harm, but that meant little to Dipper.

"What in the name of Madness are you doing here!?" he demanded.

"M-me?" the girl stammered, confused but steadily becoming offended. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Dipper glared into her eyes. She seemed different now. It wasn't just their past confrontations, no…this was the look of a girl who was determined to get answers. She was angry with something, or someone, but that may not have to do with him.

"Investigating a lead," Dipper answered her, "I'm looking for clues leading to the author."

Pacifica scrunched her nose like she smelled something unpleasant. It must not have been hard, they were standing in the smoking crater of Northwest Manor.

"Why would you _ever_ want to find that awful man?" She asked him, "I mean, you _have_ been reading his journal right? He's totally power hungry and evil!"

Dipper glared down at her. He doesn't recall asking for her opinion. "I have answered your question truthfully," he said, "You have yet to answer mine. Why are you here, and how did you get in?"

"I climbed a tree; ever heard of it?" She put her hands on her hips sassily.

"Unsanitary," Dipper quipped, "But why are you here?"

Pacifica looked at him defiantly, but sighed, defeated. She had a young, foolish heart; one filled with a sense of honor rather than strategy.

"Gideon, my brother…" she started to answer.

"Yes, yes," Dipper answered, "I've heard enough of your brother."

She ignored him. "He's been…keeping secrets from me."

Dipper raised an eyebrow. The pure-hearted butterball had secrets? Gideon was so sickeningly sweet and honest that Dipper gets a toothache from just looking at him.

"I found this conspiracy wall he's been working on," she continued, "Everyone in Gravity Falls has their picture on it, and he seems to be ruling them as suspects to this fire; which was _supposed_ to ruled out as an accident, but…" She shook her head, looking away. "I tried to talk to him about it, but he just shut me down."

She looked back up at him. "Do you keep secrets? From your sister?"

Dipper wasn't sure why she was asking him, like they were friends instead of enemies, but he answered anyway. "No. I don't keep secrets from Mabel."

Pacifica seemed to realize something and started looking around. "Where _is_ Mabel, anyway? Aren't you two attached at the hip?"

Dipper sighed. "She has…a new crush, or some sort. In her mind; your brother and my sister are taking a _break_." He put up air quotes. "She seems to be plotting something with Grenda and Candy. While they're busy fooling around, I investigate what leads I have."

"So you go out on your own," Pacifica deduced, "Without telling Mabel?"

Dipper closed his eyes to contain his irritation. When you say it like _that_ …

"Mabel and I share with each other the time we spend apart before we go to bed," Dipper explained, "We tell each other the absolute truth, under every circumstance."

He turned away and pulled out the journal from under his buttoned up shirt, opening the book and flipping through the pages. He talked over his shoulder as he walked away.

"I'll be sure to make a special note of you," he assured her.

She might have been scared, but the next series of events never allowed her to answer or retaliate.

She stepped forward, stomping her feet angrily. The floor groaned under the two children. The wooden floors snapped and cracked, finally opening up under them and swallowing the two young investigators. She gave out a small yelp, while Dipper was too stunned to say anything. They both slammed into a pile of soft ash and rolled out onto the stone floor some twenty feet below.

They both laid there; on their backs, looking up at the hole they fell through, and gasping for breath. After a few seconds, Dipper forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. It's okay, everything is alright, and there is no need to panic.

"Wow," his neon-clad-companion noted next to him, looking up, "What a hole."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Now is not the time for _Home Alone_ quotes, Miss Gleeful." He sat up and looked himself over. "Excellent," he said sarcastically, "I am covered in soot, and filth."

"I call it character," the girl also sat up, no apparent damage to her sarcasm, "Rub a little more of that on; you could use it."

Ignoring her, Dipper grabbed for his journal, only to find it missing.

" _What in blazes_?" he cursed, "Where is it?"

"Found it."

Dipper looked over to the girl, where she was pointing to where they fell through. The book was hanging off the jagged wooden ledge, just enough to identify it from below.

"I got it!" Paz announced. She picked up a piece of wood and chucked it at the journal. It was a direct hit, but it only served to secure it perch on the ledge; moving it away from the hole. If Dipper hadn't known better, he'd have thought she did that on purpose; but the girl was much too sweet and innocent have an ill will like that.

"Um…" the girl's shoulders slumped apologetically, "Oops."

Dipper scowled at her and groaned in irritation. He rubbed his eyes with his palms.

"Don't you have a spell?" Paz questioned him, "Or maybe some spooky artifact to help us get out of here?"

"No."

"But you _always_ -"she tried to argue.

"There's not exactly a shelf for mystical objects of power at the Dawn-2-Dusk!" Dipper exploded momentarily before returning to nursing his apparent headache. Dipper continued to ask her, more calmly this time, "I don't suppose anyone knows you're here." He looked at his company, who only shook her head.

"I didn't tell anybody where I was going," she answered. "Did you…?"

Dipper shook his head. "Nobody knows we're out here."

The seriousness of the situation seemed to finally hit her. Her face drained of color.

"Uh oh."

"Yeah: Uh oh," Dipper echoed, "It might be days before anyone even thinks to come looking for us all the way out here. We need to get out of here and back to the road."

The two looked around; they seemed to have landed in a stone wall corridor that ended in the mound of soot that they had landed in earlier.

"If there is a way out of here," Dipper stated, "It would be down that way."

"Wow," Pacifica stated in mock disbelief, "I always suspected you were the smart one, but now I know you must be some kind of genius!"

Dipper stared at her. "Are you done?"

She shook her head and stormed off down the corridor. "I've had enough dumb boys to last a lifetime."

Dipper took one lasting look back up at the journal above him, and then hurriedly followed the girl.

They walked down the dark, cold, featureless stone corridor until the girl decided to bring out a flashlight from her kiddie-backpack.

"Why do you have a flashlight?"

"I came here to investigate!" the girl defended, "I didn't know what I would need, so I just…brought a bunch of stuff I thought would be useful."

"That's…well, well done, actually." He answered.

The light flicked from wall to wall.

"If we get jumped by the phantom of Northwest Manor down here…" the girl threatened, "I'm just gonna chuck you at it and leave."

"The feeling is mutual," Dipper quipped, scanning the area lit up by the flashlight.

They reached a wooden door that was left cracked. The smell of rotting wood caused the two of them to cover their noses. Dipper pushed the door inward while his companion shone the light into the room.

"More scorching," Dipper noted, thinking aloud "Perhaps the fire started here."

"What's that?" Paz questioned, moving to one side of the room.

Something had been laid over an old wooden chest: a tapestry that had miraculously survived the fire. Dipper picked it up and examined it, brushing the dust and ash off of it. It was a depiction of Bill, lording over two people who seemed to be pleading and begging with him. Fire was burning the trees and housing in the background.

That didn't make a whole lot of sense to Dipper. Bill was the most cowardly creature he had ever met, there was no way he would be able to do something to this caliber. To be depicted like this…surely this was a being of Bill's _likeness,_ right?

"What the heck is that?" Paz held the tapestry with him, examining it carefully. "Who would make something like this?"

Dipper looked back to the chest it had been strewn over. "That's not the scary part," he told her.

"What is it?"

"The chest under here is practically cinders," Dipper stated.

"Yeah...?" Paz didn't follow.

"That means it was also on fire with the rest of this room," Dipper further explained, the question burning him more than the girl's ignorance. "If that is the case, how is that tapestry even here? It's untouched; it's not even singed."

Paz looked between him and the tapestry before realizing what he meant and dropped it like it was diseased.

"It's a prank," she tried to rationalize. "Someone put that in here."

"The layer of dust here disproves your theory," Dipper corrected.

The girl just shook her head. "I should have should have brought Priscilla."

Dipper just stared at her. "Who?" he asked.

"Oh," Paz seemed to realize, "That's my pet chicken. She's such a little sweetheart!"

Dipper shook his head. Paz was more like his sister than he realized; Mabel had a pet pig back home. Dipper wanted to name it Ares (his symbolic animal was a boar, it seemed fitting), but Mabel stubbornly called it Waddles.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Dipper suggested, gesturing to her light.

She swung the light around, looking for an escape route.

"Wait," he instructed, "What's that?"

The light paused and trailed back. There was a hole in the wall, some stone bricks were removed.

"That might be a way up and out," Paz speculated.

They both got down next to the hole and tried to peer through.

"It…it's untouched," Dipper said, amazed. "What part of the house is this?"

"Could be one of those secret room-dealies," Paz speculated.

"What makes you say that?"

The girl shrugged. "Don't all mansions have secret rooms? I assumed that was kind of the point."

Dipper sighed. "I'll go first."

"So you can leave me if there's an exit? Uh, I don't _think_ so," Paz's head seemed to be set on a swivel. " _I'm_ going first."

The twin waited patiently as the girl crawled through. He didn't enjoy sitting in the dark, possibly fungus infested room, but he didn't want to lose his head.

"It's safe," she called back, "and breathable. Just F-Y-I."

Dipper crawled after her and stood up in (admittedly) a more agreeable room. While it was dusty, it was a step up from ashes.

Paz was looking around the room, observing the looming sheets that covered whatever it was that had been stored here. Before Dipper could think to ask, the girl pulled on one of the sheets, showing a pioneer with a musket and a raccoon hat.

"Nathaniel Northwest," Dipper recognized him, "He founded Gravity Falls, supposedly."

Paz didn't comment. She just stared at the portrait. There was an emotion on her face that the child psychic couldn't identify.

Dipper, now a little more curious, pulled at another sheet, revealing another painting. This one was more modern, showing a family of three. The mother's smile was kind, and loving. There was a wide kind of joy in her eyes. The father's face was stern, and distinguished. His eyes looked like that of a fair judge. The young girl between them couldn't have been more than eight. If Dipper guessed right, then the time of this portrait put it exactly before the fire. What's more, the little girl looked disturbingly familiar…

Dipper turned to Paz to grab her attention, but saw she had already seen the picture. She looked at it, eyes wide and questioning.

"What is…" she seemed to struggle with the words. "Who…"

"...It's you," Dipper then realized with a start, looking between the portrait and her. "You're not a Gleeful, you're a N-"

"Shut up!" She stamped her foot. "Shut. Up! I _am_ a Gleeful! I am Paz Gleeful. My brother is Gideon Gleeful! My parents love me! My parents…" Tears started flooding down her cheeks. "They…loved me…didn't they? Who are my parents?"

She fell down to her knees, her breath catching as she sobbed into her hands. Dipper stood by awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Sure, he didn't exactly have the "perfect family;" his Great Uncle is more or less a criminal, and his parents wanted a Summer for themselves (in their words, "for once") and sent him and his sister up here to "Middle-of-nowhere" Oregon. But they watched over each other, because at the end of the day, they both knew they were all they really had.

He felt funny, in a bad way. That vice from earlier seemed to squeeze tighter around his heart. Did he honestly feel sorrow, for somebody else?

Regardless of the lack of sense, he went over to the girl and got down next to her, sitting on his knees.

He cleared his throat. "Researching the history of this town," he started, "I read about the Northwest's, and the name they made for themselves here." The girl still sobbed next to him, but she seemed to be listening somewhat. He continued, "I know they were incredibly generous with their wealth."

She turned to look at him from the side of her vision.

Dipper coughed. "I can't imagine…" he tried to find the correct words to convey, "that those kinds of people… _wouldn't_ love someone like you with all their hearts."

She sniffed. Tears still streamed down her face. She leaned over and buried her face into Dipper's dirty shoulder; her tears soaked his shirt. Dipper's arms moved robotically, moving to hold her back and arm. While she finished up crying into him, he observed the room further. He then spotted a stairway facing a wall with sunlight spilling down into the room. That was their way out. He could leave right now, and grab his journal on the way out-

"I want my Mom and Dad," the girl- who Dipper now knew as Pacifica Northwest- cried softly, her voice squeaking slightly, "I want them to come back… I want to go home…"

Dipper sat there with her, waiting patiently like he would with his sister. "I know," he told her, "I know."


	17. Chapter 17

**_Gravity Rises_**

 ** _The Deep End (part 1/2)_**

* * *

The trio walked through the mall. The lighting was dim, and it had almost no heat flowing through the structure, making it virtually the same temperature as the outside. The only heat provided would be by the crowds of people.

"So…" Dipper rubbed the back of his neck. "Why was it imperative to get out of the house again? Gruncle Ford?"

"I just thought it would be nice to…get some fresh air for a change," he answered somewhat innocently. He answered quietly, "It should be safe to return after a couple of hours or so…"

Dipper and Mabel made eye contact. Mabel crossed her arms and looked up at their uncle.

"You weren't experimenting with radiation again, were you Uncle Ford?" she asked him.

He looked down at her sheepishly. "It was gaseous in nature," he assured her, "No less poisonous, but I discovered a…small leak." Mabel shook her head, and he pressed further. "The house will air out eventually! But until then…let's just enjoy the mall."

Dipper sighed with a small smile. Regardless of their reasons for coming here, he was going to have fun, and he may even have a chance to have Mabel come out of her shell a little bit more.

"Come on," he said, "Let's take a look around."

They enjoyed their day, just walking in and out of the local shops. He and Mabel and a "boxing match" in the sports store while Ford stood around looking fairly lost. He and Mabel gushed over the new smart phones, talking computers while most of that stuff went over Dipper's head. He even managed to get Mabel to try out some new clothes. She wasn't much for fashion, but she tried on some shirts and jeans. They ended up not buying anything, but Dipper felt that their little family was enjoying each other.

They were walking past a giant fish tank, filled to the brim with funny looking fish and plastic diver men and a treasure chest that opened occasionally to let loose some bubbles. A castle sat among the colorful rocks and kelp, and it looked big enough for he and Mabel to play in.

For a split second, he thought he saw movement in the castle of the aquarium. He didn't think it was a fish, because he thought he saw hair. He looked closer, and he could swear that he saw something in the shadows within the toy castle.

"Dipper," Mabel called him back, "You're lagging!"

He snapped to attention. "Uh, right!" he answered. "Coming!" He spare another glance at the water tank, but found no further reason to linger any longer. He jogged to catch up with his family when they collectively ran into a familiar face.

"Oh, hey Robbie!" Mabel greeted happily. Of all the friends they've made since arriving to Gravity Falls, Mabel seemed eager to impress this one. Technically, he was their babysitter, but he wasn't controlling or anything like what Dipper thought he'd be. He just hung out with them and often offered sage advice while practicing his guitar skills. Dipper knew of Mabel's crush, but tried not to mess with her too much for it. "How's it going?"

"Going good!" he greeted back happily. "Just walking the floor."

That's when Dipper noticed his attire. A nice dress shirt with black pants and a black hat with a walkie-talkie on his belt. He also had sunglasses hanging off his shirt pocket over his badge, but in this dimly lit building, he could only guess that would serve as a blindfold.

"Whoa," Dipper said, impressed, "You work as a security guard?"

"Yeah man," he agreed, "Babysitting isn't my only job, you know. I got make the greens somehow. Just wish I had some company, it's just me and my boss here right now."

"Hey!" Mabel realized, "Maybe, uh…Dipper and I could help out a bit. I mean, would that be okay? We could be like…junior security guards, or something like that, right?"

She looked up to Ford. Dipper didn't necessarily want the job, but Mabel was doing something unexpected: charging forward. Usually, Dipper was the brash one, but Mabel had pulled a role reversal on him. He didn't want to stop her now, not if she was going to get rolling with this. Plus, what other job has you talking to more people than a security guard position? You're _paid_ to talk to people.

Now she just needed Ford's approval.

He shrugged, "I see no problem with this, if it's possible."

Robbie nodded happily. "Sure! I mean, in a quiet town like Gravity Falls, what could go wrong?"

Dipper flinched, fully aware that they may already be jinxed.

* * *

"Well," Dipper commented after the lady left them with their gear. "She was delightful."

"I guess if you were the only security guard in a mall for thirty years, you'd go a little crazy too," she replied softly.

They clipped on their safety vests over their clothes and made sure they had their defensive gear. She had gifted the both of them with a hat, vest, and a utility belt that included handcuffs and a panic pager (which will alert police to arrive immediately, though Dipper wasn't sure he wanted to deal with Officer Blubs and Durland again). However, she gave Mabel an extra Taser and Pepper Spray. Dipper approved of this, since she had little interest in boxing unless it was to beat him up.

"Well," Mabel took a breath for bolster he courage as she rolled her shoulders back, "How do I look?"

"Like a twelve year old who's trying too hard to be a security guard."

She looked at him, offended, but it turned into an apologetic smile. "Thanks for helping with this." She told him.

Dipper waved it off. "Go do your thing with Robbie," he told her, "I'll just…walk the floor, I guess."

Mabel beamed at him and ran off. Dipper was happy for her, but now he was stuck with this weird job. Wait, did they even discuss pay? Were they even able to _get_ paid? Man, this is going to suck like a Hoover Vacuum.

Dipper walked around the mall begrudgingly. They had a couple of hours before their "shift" was over, and Ford would pick them up. Dipper looked around as families would bustle around and teenagers would snicker to each other. One mother gushed over him and his uniform and insisted that his son, "Billy" would pose with him and take a picture.

Dipper watched as the Mall started closing up. The shops pulled their shutters down over the doors and locked everything up. The last people were exiting, and Robbie issued the order to lock up the doors over the radio.

After he closed up his doors, he found himself passing by the aquarium for maybe the fourth time today. He heard a sound and spun around. Nobody should be here, was one of Wendy's crew messing with him? He heard it again, a tapping on the glass, except his back was to the aquarium. Who could possibly…?

He turned to see someone was _inside_ the fish tank. Her hair floated above her, giving her an elegant halo around her head and face. She had some wrappings around her torso that Dipper guessed was some form of tied-together sea weed. From the waist down, she was very much a scaly creature of the deep. Bright pink scales glittered in the glow of the water tank.

She gave a friendly wave, greeting him with a severely muffled " _Hola_!"

Dipper just stared at her. It was a very real possibility that he was gaping like…well, like a fish.

"Who are-? How did-? What the-?" he stumbled over his words, falling back on his old habit.

The girl just tilted her head and looked at him pitifully. She pointed to her ear and shook her head. _"_ _Can't hear you,_ " she mouthed.

Dipper nodded in understanding. He looked around and spotted a utility closet next to the tank. He held a finger up to say "One second" and went to the closet. Surprisingly, his skeleton key worked on this lock as well.

Soon, he had a ladder to the top of the tank and lifted the service hatch. It was supposed to be for feeding, but it worked for open conversation as well. A full grown man could drop through it, so Dipper had to be careful not to lose his balance and fall in. He would probably have a hard time explaining that to Mabel, and his boss.

He thought he would have to lean in, but the mermaid almost jumped out of the tank to greet him.

" _Hola chico guapo_!" She greeted happily.

Dipper's cheeks flushed. His Spanish was practically non-existent, but he knew she just referred to him as good looking.

"Um…Hi. You're uh…mermaid?"

" _Si_!" she agreed, then switched to English. "My name is Mermanda. What's yours?"

"Dipper," Dipper introduced himself, he reached down to shake her hand. She took it gratefully.

"A pleasure to meet you," she said.

"What are doing in here, Mermanda?" Dipper was awestruck.

"I was trapped in here by a series of incredible, yet unfortunate events," she turned her head away dramatically. "I waited for so long, for a young hero to save me and return me to my home in the Mighty Deep! But now you're here, and you can save me!"

Dipper's heart broke for the fish girl. "How have you've been surviving all this time?" Dipper asked, confused. "What've you've been eating?"

The girl looked from side to side, suddenly unsure of how to answer. "Uh…You've lost a few fish this past month…"

"Oh," Dipper understood. He smiled down at her. "Hold on a sec, I'll get you some real food."

Dipper hopped down from the ladder and sprinted over to one of the food kiosks. He grabbed a couple of corndogs and swabbed them with mustard. Sure, _technically_ it was stealing, but if they had a problem with it, they could take out of his (non-existent) paycheck.

He ran back to the tank and handed the snacks down to the trapped creature.

"Try this," he offered, "It's awesome."

Mermanda cautiously took it, unsure of the substance, and took a bite. Her eyes went wide and she soon devoured the whole snack with a frightening amount of speed and savagery.

"That…was…incredible!" she beamed at him. "I've never tasted anything like that! What is this delicacy?"

"Uh…" Dipper wasn't sure he wanted to spoil the experience for her. Though it was amusing to see someone experience the joy of junk food for the first time. "They're called corndogs."

"Yes!" Mermanda suddenly decided. "I demand _all_ the corndogs!"

" _Dipper_?"

The boy jumped as his walkie-talkie went off on his belt. Mermanda retreated into the water.

"Uh, what's up?" Dipper answered his sister.

"Shift's over," she reminded him. "Ford's waiting for us."

"I'll be right there." He promised, "Just a second." He put the radio down and looked back into the water. "I have to go…" he said miserably.

"That's okay," she said, "Maybe we can meet later? Maybe sometime tonight?"

"Uh, yeah!" he agreed. "Maybe we can go for a walk, or something."

She just looked up at him, not amused. "Mermaid; I am a mermaid."

"Oh. Right."

* * *

 ** _Part 2 out soon! And it won't take a year, I promise!_**

 ** _P.S. I know next to no Spanish, so I used Google translate. I hope I don't butcher the language any more than I already have._**


	18. Chapter 18

**_Gravity Rises_**

 ** _The Deep End (Part 2/2)_**

* * *

The house did indeed clear out of all harmful substances. Though everyone did have to bundle up since they had to leave the house with all of the windows open. Dipper waited for everyone to fall asleep before sneaking on his sneakers (heh) and driving the golf cart. All the way back to the mall. He might just drain the battery on this trip, but he didn't care. He was going to meet his secret… _friend_.

He kept his keys and used the ladder he mistakenly left out in the open. He and Mermanda talked for _hours_. He asked questions about mermaids, and she asked him about the foods and stuff people do. They reached the topic of their respective families.

Suddenly, she looked away, hiding behind her hair.

"Hey," Dipper wondered, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Mermanda began pulling her hair, starting to braid it.

"You miss your family," Dipper read her. "I'm sorry. I just…I've enjoyed hanging out with you."

"I have also enjoyed spending time with you," she said. "But…"

"I'll help you," Dipper promised her. He looked up, and with a start he realized that daylight was starting to peak through. Mabel and Ford would be waking up any minute. He turned back to his aquatic comrade, "Later today. I'll have a way to get you back home tonight, scout's honor."

He started to climb down, but Mermanda called back to him. "Wait! Dipper."

He climbed back up and smiled at her. "Yeah?"

She bit her lip, she seemed really unsure about something. She struggled with her words and moved her hands to shape something Dipper couldn't really identify. "Are you…. Um… Do you have a…"

She looked at him in his eyes, a pained expression crossing her face.

"I am single," Dipper tried to help, "If that's what you're asking."

She blushed and looked away, giggling. She looked back up to him before saying "I'll be waiting."

He smiled at her. "Not too long, I promise."

He put the ladder away and sped back home with none the wiser. He walked into the door as Ford walked out of the kitchen half asleep with coffee in hand.

"Another all-nighter?" Dipper offered.

He nodded begrudgingly, taking a long sip before replying. "Am I going to have to worry about what you've been up to all night?"

Dipper's arms and legs locked up in place, which probably only served to give him away. "Uh…"

"Are you doing anything dangerous?" Ford calmly pressed.

"N-no," Dipper answered.

"Are you getting a girl pregnant?"

Dipper's face burned. "No sir!"

"Good," Ford answered. "See that it stays that way. You don't have to tell me what you're up to, but I would rather send you and your sister home in one piece, instead of several pieces."

"Yes sir." Dipper answered solemnly.

Ford walked over to the doorway that led downstairs to his lab. He spoke over his shoulder. "Get some rest while you can," he advised. "You and Mabel have work in a few hours."

After he left, Mabel appeared from around the corner.

"Morning," she greeted, rubbing her eye. "Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

* * *

Apparently Dipper had been a little sloppier last night than he anticipated. He left the service hatch to the aquarium open, his corndog raid did not go unnoticed as originally planned (if you could call it that), and he forgot to lock the door back up when leaving. Of course, his boss didn't know it was all Dipper, but she was still furious with the both of them. He and Mabel sat there being scolded for their sloppiness. Robbie wasn't at fault, because when Ford showed up for the last few minutes of their shift, he left the two of them to lock up. He trusted them, and Dipper seriously dropped the ball.

When they were done with their lecture, they went about their day. They stuck together this time, patrolling through the mall. Mabel told him about how Robbie and her rigged a Segway to possibly break the laws of physics as far as speed was concerned. Dipper wasn't really listening, though. His thoughts were elsewhere.

Mabel was absolutely onto him. She often gave him a knowing look, but she didn't press further. He wouldn't know what to say to her if she did; which is stupid, since their entire time here in Gravity Falls was spent fending off and embracing the supernatural. A mermaid at this point was nothing compared to some of their other misadventures.

But he felt the need to keep this to himself. He needed... to prove something, if to nobody else than himself. He can accomplish something by himself. He didn't need his five minute older and smarter sister to come in with her journal, chalk full of supernatural monster bios and spells and weird rituals.

They finally went home for the night, with everyone doing their nightly routine. Ford gave Dipper a knowing look, perhaps not a look of approval, but one of understanding. He didn't say much to Dipper, which hurt a little, but it's not like Dipper's out to burn things down. Tonight's the last night he's out and about illegally.

He made his way to the cart when Mabel snuck up behind him.

"Where are you going?"

Dipper spun around to see Mabel, crossing her arms. She had pulled her big orange jacket over her PJ's, apparently ready to chase after him.

"To…the mall…?" Dipper tried the truth, just not all of it, not yet.

"Okay…" Mabel took a big step closer. "Why?"

"Uh…" Dipper looked off to the side.

"Whatever you're doing," Mabel insisted, "I'm helping you."

"I don't need your help, Mabel," he said a little more defensively than he meant to. "I can do this by myself."

Mabel just stared at him, incredulous to his otherwise obvious stupidity. She huffed.

"You know, I get it," she snapped a look at him, "You want to be the lone hero who saves the day. I get that. You want people to know that you're the good guy, and not the pervert that Wendy said you were."

Ouch. Okay, not necessary Mabs.

"But you're not alone," she continued, "And you're never going to _be_ alone. If you crash and get hurt out there, who's going to help you?"

Dipper just stared at her, unsure of how to answer.

"Besides, you owe me, for that incident with the-"

"Okay!" Dipper raised his hands to block out the image, "I get it. Get in already."

She obliged, and Dipper left to get some things. When he returned, he used a couple of bungie cords from the shed to secure a cooler to the back of the cart. For whatever reason, Mabel didn't question it. They rode silently to the mall, the silence only being broken by keys being scratched into the lock.

"So I guess that was you who left the doors open, huh?" Mabel deduced.

Dipper sighed and just opened the door for them to enter. They walked over to the aquarium and set up the ladder.

"Mermanda," Dipper called in, the thought of meeting her again making him smile. "I'm back."

She came out from her hiding spot and swam up to him. Mabel gasped, Mermanda paused in the water, and the two stared at each other for a few moments.

"It's okay," Dipper assured her, "She's my twin, you can trust her."

The mermaid looked at him and nodded solemnly. She broke through the surface and greeted him.

"So, how am I getting out of here?" she asked him.

"Well," Dipper explained, " _At first_ , I thought I could set up a series of _slip-and-slides_ from here to the bay…"

"Uh…what?" Mabel could be heard saying.

"That sounds fun," Mermanda agreed.

Dipper continued, "But I don't have any money at the moment….So I decided that it'd be easier to fill up a cooler with water and carry you there."

Mermanda giggled. "I liked your first idea better."

"I did too," Dipper smiled back. "I'm going to go fill up the cooler real quick, I'll be right back."

"I'll be here!" She waved goodbye.

He passed by Mabel, who watched him with a raised eyebrow.

"Way to bury the lead, dude," she commented.

"Ha. Ha." Dipper quipped, "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

"I'll do that."

For a minute, Dipper thought everything was going to go alright. He tried not to think about where they would be after tonight. Mermanda would be able to swim back home, away from him…

 _Don't focus on that_ , Dipper told himself. _This is the right thing to do, regardless of what he wanted_.

There was a spray hose on the side of the building with a lock over it: another problem solved by the skeleton key. It would take a couple of minutes for the cooler to fill up, so he went back to the girls to check on them.

Before he could talk to Mermanda, Mabel grabbed his arm. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

They took a few steps away, and Mabel made sure their backs were to the tank, though he wasn't sure why.

"I don't trust her," she explained.

"Of course you don't," Dipper rolled his eyes.

"There's something fishy about her tale."

"She's a mermaid," Dipper thought this much was obvious.

Now it was Mabel's turn to roll her eyes. "I _mean_ that there're holes in her story. Nothing about her adds up."

"Does it _matter_?" Dipper pushed, "She needs my- er, _our_ help. She needs to get home."

"Does the term _siren_ mean nothing to you?" Mabel questioned. "Sailors going missing at sea? Men being lured to their deaths by beautiful water witches?" She looked at him incredulously. "She's the fisher, Dipper, and you're the fish."

Dipper didn't want to hear this. He bit back his anger and just gave her his ultimatum.

"Are you going to help me help her, or not?" He set her with an angry look.

Mabel, after a moment of silent pleading, sighed in surrender. "I'll make sure the cooler is ready. Why don't you go get your girlfriend so we can get out of here."

She walked past him and left for the cart. Dipper went over to the tank and leaned over the service hatch.

"You ready to go?"

"Yes," she answered. "Is everything…alright?"

Dipper apologized with his eyes. "Couldn't be better."

He reached his arm down, locking his wrist with hers. He pulled her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his arms around her waist. They were nose to nose.

"So…" she questioned. "Are we leaving tonight, or…?"

"Oh," Dipper blinked, his face heating up. "Sorry."

He picked her up sideways and carried her down the steps. He reached outside, to where Mabel was wrapping the hose back up.

"Don't mind me," she said sarcastically, "Just covering up your tracks, bro."

Dipper set Mermanda in the water as gently as he could.

"How's it feel?" he asked.

"Great," she answered happily. Concern then washed over her face as she glanced at Mabel.

"Don't mind her," Dipper waved it off, "It's just past her bed time."

Some miscellaneous object whistled past his head with a deadly amount of force. Dipper was probably lucky that she missed, but he could help but wonder if the miss was purposeful or not. Mermanda only smiled pitifully up at him, staying quiet.

Dipper sat up front and sideways so he could face Mermanda. She gripped his hand and looked at him solemnly.

"I don't know how I'm going to repay you," she looked ready to cry.

"I'd ask for your cell number if I thought you had a phone," Dipper said in all honesty.

"Perhaps a message in a bottle?" she suggested hopefully.

Dipper had to fight a laugh. "Why not?" he shrugged.

Mabel hopped into the passenger seat unannounced. "Let's go," she ordered, sheltering herself in her jacket as much as possible.

Dipper drove the golf cart all the way to the beach, all the way to the docks of Gravity Falls bay.

He picked her up and walked her over to the docks, with the moonlight shining down and illuminating the waters with its lovely light. Dipper's mission was feeling quite ceremonious.

Suddenly, Mermanda tapped his shoulder urgently. " _Un momento! Un momento!_ " She pointed to Mabel. "I need a vial."

Mabel, unsure of what this was about, walked over and- sure enough- pulled out a sampling vial from her jacket. Always be prepared for an investigation, in her own words. How did Mermanda know that she would have one?

Mermanda took the vial from Mabel and blinked a couple of times. Her right eye produced a single tear and she caught it with the vial before it could roll down her cheek.

"A very powerful ingredient," she promised, "If used correctly. Keep it cool, keep it close, and keep it a secret from everybody."

She handed the vial back to Mabel, who nodded in what Dipper guessed was mutual understanding.

Soon, he was at the water and lowering her in. He let her go, but she held onto him.

"What's wrong?" Dipper asked.

"That tear is for you," she told him, "But this is for me."

She planted her lips on his; a long, gentle kiss that made Dipper's heart flutter.

They parted, and Mermanda went back into the seas, leaving Dipper at the docks. He didn't remember driving the golf cart home, but he knew he had a big, goofy smile on his face the whole way there.

"My first kiss was a Mermaid!" He shouted with his arms outstretched in victory when they reached the house.

* * *

The young mermaid swam through the water as fast as she could. She knew it would never be enough, but she had to put as much distance between her and Dipper as posible.

" _Well, well, well_ ," a chilling voice echoed through her bones. " _How nice to see you again_."

Mermanda turned to see her master, Lord Cipher, still a flat and triangular as ever, yet no less heartless or sinister.

" _I gotta say_ ," Bill feined confusion. " _That's an interesting tactic you got there. You had him right where you wanted him, but you ask him to help you get to the ocean? Did you really think you could escape_ **_ME?!"_**

His rage was evident. Mermanda shuddered, but found her words anyway.

"I will not be your slave anymore Cipher!" she defied him. "You will have to find someone _else_ to get those journals for you."

" _Hmm_ ," Bill rubbed a spot under his eye that might have been considered a chin. " _I suppose you're right_."

He grew in size, towering over her and turning as red as a sentient inferno.

" ** _I have no futher use of you_**."

((()))

 ** _Long fic is long._**


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